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OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 


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BY 

S.  S.  McCLURE 


BOSTON    AND    NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

<&\>t  fttoetjsi&e  pte^  Cambribge 

1917 


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COPYRIGHT,    1917,   BY   SAMUEL   S.  MCCLURE 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  March  iqjj 


TO 

HERBERT  C.  HOOVER 

Chairman  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Commission 

I  dedicate  this  book,  because  in  maintaining 
the  traditions  of  the  men  who  made  the  Republic, 
he  has  rendered  a  greater  service  to  his  country 
than  any  other  man  of  his  time. 


PREFACE 

The  Obstacles  to  Peace  are  of  two  kinds:  first,  the 
questions  involved  in  this  war,  which  are  territory, 
access  to  the  sea,  and  national  security;  secondly,  the 
states  of  mind  of  the  peoples  at  war. 

The  world  of  to-day  is  small  in  relation  to  popula- 
tions compared  with  past  eras.  The  matters  at  issue 
are  of  crucial  and  capital  importance.  I  have  outlined 
these  issues.  It  would  be  difficult  to  settle  them  if  the 
nations  at  interest  were  friendly  and  filled  with  mu- 
tual trust  and  confidence.  The  reverse  is  the  case,  and 
I  have  tried  to  describe  the  extraordinary  hatreds, 
contempts,  and  horrors  that  divide  the  warring  na- 
tions; so  I  have  given  much  space  to  the  records  of 
alleged  atrocities.  The  most  important  single  fact  in 
Europe  to-day  is  the  feeling  caused  by  belief  in  these, 
records.  This  feeling  constitutes  the  greatest  single 
obstacle  to  an  early  peace. 

I  have  tried  to  make  a  picture  of  the  actualities.  I 
have  used  documents  lavishly.  I  preferred  to  give  the 
actual  documents  rather  than  a  summarization  in 
my  own  words.  Not  all  the  material  I  have  quoted 
is  of  equal  value.  The  views  of  publicists  and  his- 
torians are  valuable  principally  in  giving  the  atmos- 
phere of  thought  and  the  public  opinion  of  a  country. 

All  the  authoritative  documents,  all  the  details  of 
atrocities  are  believed  absolutely  by  the  peoples  of 
one  or  the  other  set  of  belligerent  nations. 

I  have  quoted  at  length  from  Baron  Beyens'  book 

vii 


PREFACE 

Germany  Before  the  War  (Thomas  Nelson's  Sons),  be- 
cause the  author,  in  Germany,  where  he  is  well  known, 
is  accepted  as  worthy  of  quotation  in  authoritative 
German  utterances.  The  German  Foreign  Office  and 
Prince  von  Biilow  quote  him  frequently. 

A  very  valuable  book  is  the  new  edition  of  Imperial 
Germany  (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.)  by  Prince  von  Biilow. 

Those  who  wish  to  learn  more  of  the  diplomatic 
history  from  1870  to  1914  will  find  an  accurate  book 
—  The  Diplomatic  Background  of  the  War  (Yale  Uni- 
versity Press),  by  Charles  Seymour,  Professor  of 
History,  Yale  College. 

A  study  of  the  diplomatic  correspondence  of  the 
thirteen  days  from  July  23  to  August  4,  with  much 
additional  material,  is  to  be  found  in  The  Diplomacy 
of  the  War  of  1914-  (Houghton  Mifflin  Company),  by 
Ellery  C.  Stowell,  Assistant  Professor  of  Interna- 
tional Law,  Columbia  University. 

The  New  York  Times  Current  History,  in  bound 
volumes,  preserves  a  vast  amount  of  fundamental 
material. 

The  Rise  of  Rail  Power  in  War  and  Conquest,  1833- 
1914  (J-  B.  Lippincott  Company),  by  E.  A.  Pratt,  is 
recommended  to  those  who  are  interested  in  my 
chapter  on  the  submarine. 

An  extremely  interesting  study  of  the  war  is  being 
published  by  George  Barrie's  Sons  of  Philadelphia, 
written  by  Professor  Allen,  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. It  is  entitled  The  Great  War.  It  is  a  very 
valuable  work  for  the  general  reader. 

Thanks  are  due  to  the  several  publishers  named 
above  for  permitting  the  use  of  extracts  reprinted 
in  this  volume;  also  to  Mr.  Robert  W.  Service  and 

viii 


PREFACE 

Messrs.  Barse  &  Hopkins  for  the  stanzas  from 
"Grand-Pere"  {Rhymes  of  a  Red-Cross  Man);  to 
Messrs.  Harper  &  Brother  for  the  story  of  the  Ems 
telegram  from  Bismarck's  Memoirs;  to  Messrs.  E.  P. 
Dutton  &  Company  for  the  passage  from  Belgians 
under  the  German  Eagle,  by  Jean  Massart;  to  Messrs. 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons  for  selections  from  Diplomatic 
Documents  of  the  War;  to  Messrs.  Dodd,  Mead  & 
Co.  for  the  extracts  from  Maeterlinck;  and  to  Mr. 
Alfred  Noyes  for  the  quotation  in  chapter  xv. 

Ten  years  ago  I  visited  England  and  Germany  to 
study  the  situation  that  ultimately  led  to  the  War 
of  1914.  At  that  time  I  met  members  of  the  Govern- 
ments and  many  leaders  of  thought  in  both  countries. 
In  1910,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Bernard  Mai- 
mon,  I  had  access  to  a  huge  mass  of  diplomatic  mate- 
rial —  the  complete  diplomatic  correspondence  be- 
tween the  Turkish  Government  and  the  other  Govern- 
ments of  the  world  for  the  last  twenty-eight  years  of 
the  reign  of  Abdul  Hamid  (which  papers  had  been 
removed  from  Constantinople  at  the  time  of  his  ban- 
ishment) and  the  years  following  up  to  1910.  For  the 
purposes  of  this  book  there  is  no  such  body  of  mate- 
rial in  existence,  and  it  is  a  great  grief  to  me  that  I  am 
unable  to  have  these  documents  before  me  now.  But 
the  study  of  these  dispatches  gave  me  a  very  good 
background  of  knowledge  of  European  diplomacy,  for 
Turkey  was,  for  many  years  before  the  war,  the  center 
of  European  diplomacy.  It  was  in  reading  these  dis- 
patches that  I  first  got  a  real  impression  of  Sir  Edward 
Grey. 

From  January  6  to  April  26,  1916,  I  was  mainly  in 
Germany,  with  brief  visits  to  Belgium,  the  Russian 

ix 


PREFACE 

East  Front,  Vienna,  Buda-Pesth,  and  Constantinople. 

From  July  24  to  October  7,  1916,  I  was  in  England 
and  France,  where  I  was  able  to  get  some  first-hand 
knowledge.   I  also  visited  Verdun  and  the  Argonne. 

The  value  of  this  book  lies  in  its  documents.  In 
selecting  these  my  sole  aim  has  been  to  present  the 
same  picture  that  the  whole  body  of  material  would 
give. 

When  I  give  my  impressions  I  tell  things  just  as  I 
saw  them.  Belgium  bulks  large  in  the  book.  I  could 
not  help  it.  Belgium  will  bulk  large  in  public  opinion 
for  a  long  time  to  come. 

Turkey  gets  nearly  as  much  space  as  both  England 
and  France.  That  is  because  Turkey  is  the  very  crux 
of  the  Obstacles  to  Peace.  The  fate  of  Turkey  is  the 
issue  of  this  war. 

I  have  devoted  considerable  space  to  the  question  of 
responsibility  for  the  war.   This  question  will  not  die. 

In  an  interview,  October  23d,  1916,  Sir  Edward 
Grey  said:  — 

If  we  are  to  approach  peace  in  a  proper  spirit,  it  can  only 
be  by  recollecting  and  recalling  and  never  for  a  moment 
forgetting  what  was  the  real  cause  of  the  war. 

Some  people  say:  "Oh,  we  need  not  go  back  over  that  old 
ground  now.  Everybody  knows  it." 

You  cannot  go  back  to  it  too  often.  It  affects  the  condi- 
tions of  peace.  Germany  talks  of  peace.  Her  statesmen 
talk  of  peace  to-day.  They  say:  "Germany  must  have 
guarantees  against  being  attacked  again." 

If  this  war  had  been  forced  upon  Germany,  that  would 
be  a  logical  statement.  It  is  precisely  because  it  was  not 
forced  upon  Germany,  but  forced  by  Germany  upon  Europe, 
that  it  is  the  Allies  who  must  have  guarantees  for  future 
peace. 


PREFACE 

And  on  the  other  hand,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
always  insists  that  Belgium  must  no  longer  be  in  a 
position  to  aid  the  enemies  of  Germany,  and  that  Rus- 
sia was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  war. 

I  owe  a  great  deal  in  getting  the  material  for  the 
book  to  the  assistance  given  me  by  the  Governments 
of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey,  England,  and 
France,  and  to  many  men  in  all  these  countries. 

Without  the  long-continued  and  considerate  kindli- 
ness and  helpfulness  of  my  wife  this  book  would  have 
been  impossible. 

S.  S.  McClure. 
New  York  City,  February  17,  1917. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    WORLD    AT    THE    END    OF    THE    NINETEENTH 
CENTURY   1 

Comparative  status  of  Japan,  Russia,  Germany,  the 
British  Empire,  and  United  States  as  to  territory  and  ac- 
cess to  the  sea  —  New  factors  introduced  into  civilization 
during  the  nineteenth  century. 

CHAPTER  II 

ASIATIC  TURKEY:  THE  BAGDAD  RAILWAY     . 

Agricultural  and  mineral  possibilities  of  Asiatic  Turkey 

—  Asiatic  Turkey  the  seat  of  great  empires  of  antiquity 

—  Turkey  a  natural  fortress  dominating  Egypt,  the  Suez 
Canal,  the  Bosphorus,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Red  Sea,  the 
Persian  Gulf,  Persia,  India  —  Seat  of  power  over  Mo- 
hammedan world  —  Relation  of  Asiatic  Turkey  to  Eng- 
land's power  in  Egypt  and  India  —  Germany's  plan  as  to 
the  Suez  Canal  —  Significance  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  — 
My  interview  with  Talaat  Bey  on  future  plans  of  Turkey 

—  Russia's  interests  in  the  Bosphorus  and  Asia  Minor  — 
Von  Biilow  on  1915  campaign  in  Mesopotamia  —  Quota- 
tions from  Sir  William  Willcocks,  Ellis  Barker,  Captain 
A.  T.  Mahan,  Professor  Rohrbach,  Professor  Seymour, 
Prince  von  Biilow,  Count  Reventlow. 

CHAPTER  III 

TURKEY  AND  ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS  FROM  THE 
BOER  WAR  TO  THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  — 1899-1914      .     23 

Joseph  Chamberlain  on  alliances  between  England, 
the  United  States,  and  Germany  —  Lord  Salisbury  on 
Anglo-German  friendliness  —  Fashoda  and  threatened 
war  between  France  and  England  —  Effects  of  Boer  War 
on  world  opinion  —  Anglo-Japanese  Alliance  of  1902  — 
Anglo-French  Agreement  in  1904,  and  Count  Reventlow 

xiii 


CONTENTS 

thereon  —  The  Kaiser's  visits  to  Constantinople  and  the 
Holy  Land,  secures  concessions  for  the  Bagdad  Railway 
—  The  Kaiser's  visit  to  Tangier  in  1905,  reasons  for,  by 
Prince  von  Biilow  —  The  Algeciras  Conference  of  1906  — 
Count  Reventlow  and  Professor  Seymour  on  the  results 
of  the  Conference  —  Anglo-Russian  Agreement  of  1907  — 
Young  Turk  Revolution  of  1908,  Professor  Seymour  on 
results  —  Prince  von  Biilow  on  results  of  the  Bosnian 
Crisis  —  King  Edward's  forebodings  on  account  of  the 
annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  by  Austria  —  San 
Giuhano,  Foreign  Minister  of  Italy,  compares  crisis  of 
1908  with  that  of  1914  —  Prince  von  Biilow  on  King 
Edward's  visit  to  Berlin  in  1909  —  The  Agadir  Incident 
and  Lloyd  George's  speech  thereon — My  interviews  with 
Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  April,  1916,  and  with  Lord  Hal- 
dane,  August,  1916,  on  the  Haldane  Mission  to  Berlin, 
1912  —  British  Foreign  Office  on  Germany's  demand  for 
neutrality  treaty  —  Von  Bernhardi  on  this  demand —  Sir 
Edward  Grey  on  England's  peace  policy — Anglo-German 
relations  up  to  1914  —  Proposed  Anglo-German  Treaty 
of  1914  (now  first  published)  —  M.  P.  Price,  Professor 
Rohrbach,  Dr.  Jaeckh,  Sidney  Low,  and  Von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  on  this  proposed  treaty  —  Baron  Beyens  on 
Franco-German  Agreement  of  1914. 

CHAPTER  TV 

THE  THIRTEEN  DAYS    FROM    JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4, 
1914 46 

Extracts  from  diplomatic  dispatches  —  E.  J.  Dillon  on 
the  Austro-Servian  Crisis  —  My  interviews  with  Count 
Tisza,  Count  and  Countess  Berchtold,  Baron  Burian,  and 
others  on  Austria-Hungary's  reasons  for  making  war  on 
Servia  —  Extracts  from  diplomatic  documents  on  the  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  Crisis  with  Servia  —  Bismarck's  story  of 
how  he  manipulated  the  Ems  Telegram  and  forced  war  in 
1870  —  Baron  Beyens  on  war-threats  of  the  German  Em- 
peror and  of  Von  Moltke  in  1913  —  M.  P.  Price's  analysis 
of  Germany's  position  in  1914  — A.  G.  Gardiner  on  efforts 
of  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  and  of  Sir  Edward  Grey  to 
prevent  war  in  July,  1914  —  G.  Lowes  Dickinson  on 
Russia's  previous  mobilization. 

xiv 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR  ?  .        .        .        .78 

Cause  of  war  remote  from  England  —  Captain  Mahan 
on  England's  duty  —  Extracts  from  diplomatic  dis- 
patches —  Letters  between  the  President  of  the  French 
Republic  and  King  George  of  England  —  Austria  im- 
movable against  Servia  —  Germany's  misunderstanding 
of  other  nations  —  Germany  averse  to  war  —  How  Rus- 
sia worked  for  peace  —  Sir  Edward  Grey's  wise  efforts 
to  avert  war. 

CHAPTER  VI 

WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM?         .        .        .102 

Germany  did  not  expect  England's  intervention  — 
Speech  of  Senator  Humbert,  July  13,  1914,  on  France's 
unpreparedness  —  Incalculable  advantages  to  Germany 
of  advance  through  Belgium  —  Expectation  of  taking 
France  on  undefended  frontier  —  Control  gained  of 
France's  mineral  resources  —  Petition  of  influential 
associations  to  German  Government  to  take  territory 
from  France  and  to  control  Belgium  after  the  war  — 
What  France  lost  through  invasion  —  France  strangled. 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 114 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  speech  of  August  4,  1914, 
telling  why  Germany  invaded  Luxemburg  and  Belgium 
—  Description  of  Belgium's  wealth  —  German  requisi- 
tions of  raw  materials  and  machinery  and  other  mate- 
rials —  German  theories  of  spoliation  —  Professor  Mas- 
sart  on  causes  of  famine  in  Belgium  —  Report  of  Dr. 
Rathenau  and  Dr.  Ganghofer  on  how  Belgium  was 
stripped  —  Official  orders  for  stripping  Belgium  —  Re- 
moval of  machinery  from  factories  —  Maeterlinck  on 
Belgium's  distress  —  Spread  of  tuberculosis  —  Baron 
Beyens  on  spirit  of  Belgium  —  Verhaeren  on  "Proud 
Belgium." 

xv 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SUBMARINE  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO    RAIL  POWER 
versus  SEA  POWER 133 

Why  Germany  looks  to  submarine  as  surest  weapon 
for  success  —  Germany's  rules  of  submarine  warfare  in 
force  in  April,  1916  —  Captain  Persius  on  submarine 
warfare  —  Dr.  Flamm  on  submarine  possibilities  —  Rail 
power  versus  sea  power  as  exemplified  in  Russo-Japanese 
War  —  My  interview  with  General  Kuropatkin  —  E.  A. 
Pratt,  on  "The  Rise  of  Rail  Power"  —  My  interview  with 
Herr  Deutsch  on  Germany  as  self-supporting  unit  — 
Submarine  murder  at  sea  —  Sinkings  of  Lusitania, 
Arabic,  Ancona,  Persia  —  Germany's  warfare  on  mer- 
chantmen —  Execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  —  James 
Brown  Scott  on  the  legality  of  the  execution  —  Ger- 
many's new  submarine  laws  —  "German  Prize  Law  in 
its  Latest  Form,"  by  Dr.  Schramm  —  Letter  in  Lon- 
don "Times,"  July  16,  1914,  by  Sir  Percy  Scott,  with 
extract  from  letter  by  a  foreign  naval  officer,  announcing 
a  policy  since  followed  by  Germany. 

CHAPTER  IX 
THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 157 

Results  of  comparison  of  German  official  reports  of  Zep- 
pelin raids  with  actualities,  in  Liverpool,  Birkenhead, 
Manchester,  London,  Grimsby  —  German  illustrated  book 
on  Zeppelin  raids  —  German  belief  in  Zeppelin  fables  — 
Effects  on  England  of  Zeppelin  raids. 

CHAPTER  X 

THE    GERMAN    ARMY    IN    BELGIUM    ACCORDING    TO 
GERMAN  DOCUMENTS 171 

German  doctrine  of  war  as  explained  in  extracts  from 
Clausewitz,  Von  Hartmann,  Captain  Walter  Bloem,  and 
German  General  Staff  —  Proclamations,  notices,  and  let- 
ters addressed  by  German  army  officers  to  Belgian  cities 
and  villages  —  Address  to  population  of  Minister,  August 
29,  1914,  by  General  von  Bissing. 

xvi 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XI 

ALLEGED    ATROCITIES    OF    THE  GERMAN  TROOPS  IN 
BELGIUM 180 

Facts  accepted  by  Germany  as  well  as  by  France  and 
England  — 

1.  The  Belgian  allegations  — 

Statements  by  Cardinal  Mercier  —  Professor  L.  H. 
Grondys,  a  Dutchman  of  Dordrecht,  on  destruction  at 
Louvain  (a  personal  narrative)  —  Execution  of  a 
priest  —  Extracts  from  Gustave  Somville's  Book,  "The 
Road  to  Liege,"  a  narrative  of  personal  observations  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion  —  Extracts  from  notebooks  of 
German  soldiers  and  officers  —  Extracts  from  "Belgians 
under  the  German  Eagle,"  by  Professor  Jean  Massart  — 
Story  by  South  American  Priest  in  Belgium  —  "The 
Helpless  Victims,"  a  letter  to  the  "New  York  Times," 
by  an  American  woman. 

2.  Germany's  defense  — 

Statement  by  Dr.  Alfred  Zimmermann  —  Appeal  to 
civilized  world  by  ninety-three  professors  of  German  uni- 
versities. 

CHAPTER  XII 

ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  ON  THE  GERMAN  TROOPS    BY 
CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 212 

1.  The  German  allegations  — 

Extracts  from  the  German  White  Book  on  Louvain, 
Dinant,  Aerschot,  and  other  places  —  What  German 
children  are  taught  regarding  the  invasion  of  Belgium  — 
Emperor  William's  telegram  to  President  Wilson  —  Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg's  statement  to  the  press  of  New  York. 

2.  Belgium's  defense  — 

Report  of  work  of  the  Pax  Society  —  Belgium  Free- 
masons demand  investigation  under  neutral  auspices  — 
Cardinal  Mercier  makes  same  demand  —  Letters  of 
Bishops  of  Belgium  to  Bishops  of  Germany,  Bavaria, 
and  Austria-Hungary,  denying  charges  and  demanding 
neutral  investigation  —  German  Government  always  re- 
fuses investigation  —  What  religious  interests  demand  — 
Violation  of  international  law  in  Belgium  continues. 

xvii 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XIII 

EXTRACTS    FROM     THE     HAGUE     CONVENTIONS    OF 
1907 232 

Selections  from  agreements  made  at  The  Hague  by 
Germany  and  nearly  all  the  other  powers  of  the  world  — 
These  selections  apply  to  acts  of  Germany  in  Belgium. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 237 

1.  Early  history  — 

Statements  of  Von  Moltke  —  Karl  Hildebrand,  Bis- 
marck, David  Jayne  Hill. 

2.  The  German  case  against  Belgium  — 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  in  1914  —  Dr.  Dernburg's  de- 
fense of  Germany  in  1914  —  Statements  of  Von  Jagow 
and  of  German  Minister  of  War  in  1913  —  Treaty  be- 
tween Germany  and  Great  Britain  in  1870  —  Gladstone's 
speech  on  treaty  in  1870  —  Stowell  on  Gladstone's 
speech  —  Study  of  documents  found  by  Germany  in 
1914  in  Archives  of  Belgian  Government  —  King  Albert's 
statement  in  "New  York  World,"  March  22,  1915. 

3.  Side-lights  on  Belgian  Diplomacy,  1905  to  1914  — 

Statement  by  German  Foreign  Office  —  Correctness 
of  Belgium's  attitude  indicated  by  Baron  Beyens,  April 
24,  1914,  and  by  Baron  Greindl,  1911  —  Diplomatic 
documents  on  neutrality  of  Belgium. 

4.  The  Tragic  Prelude  — 

Germany's  note  to  Belgium  —  Belgium's  reply  to  Ger- 
many's demand  —  King  Albert  asks  King  George  for 
England's  diplomatic  aid  —  Belgium,  invaded,  appeals 
to  guarantors  of  neutrality  —  Germany's  course  —  Re- 
fusal during  years  to  define  intentions  —  August  4,  1914, 
war  declared  —  King  Albert's  address  to  Belgian  Parlia- 
ment —  Heroic  dispatch  to  Belgian  Foreign  Ministers 
in  all  lands. 

5.  Statements  of  Baron  Beyens,  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin  — 

Relations  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II  and  King  Albert  — ■ 
Early  bints  of  war  —  Plans  of  German  Staff  unfathomed 

xviii 


CONTENTS 

by  prophets  —  Days  just  before  the  invasion  —  Diplo- 
matic letters  and  conversations  —  Kaiser  and  Chan- 
cellor address  the  Reichstag. 

6.  Germany's  charges  at  beginning  of  the  war  — 

Statements  published  September,  1914,  signed  by 
many  leading  Germans  —  Investigation  of  these  allega- 
tions by  two  distinguished  French  professors  —  Course 
of  France  indicated  by  orders  of  Joffre  and  Messimy. 

7.  The  innocence  of  Belgium  — 

German  war  plans  discussed  in  "Deutsche  Kriege  Zei- 
tung"  —  Germany's  strategic  railways  —  Plan  of  cam- 
paign dates  back  to  the  elder  von  Moltke  —  German  In- 
telligence Department  badly  informed. 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE  GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE  OF  DEPOR- 
TATIONS AND   OF  TERRITORIAL  APPROPRIATION     .  295 

1.  Origin  of  theories  — 

Importance  of  natural  safety  to  a  dominant  nation  — 
Germany  in  nineteenth  century. 

2.  Mission  of  German  people  and  their  sense  of  superiority  — 

Baron  von  Stengel  on  Germany's  gift  of  peace  to  all  the 
world  —  Opinions  of  Professors  Eucken  and  Ostwald,  of 
the  Kaiser,  of  Von  der  Goltz,  Dr.  Lasson,  and  others  — 
The  German  God. 

8.  Inferiority  of  other  nations  — 

Feeling  against  England  expressed  by  Meyer  and 
Rohrbach. 

4.  Germany's  policies  for  expansion  and  methods  to  be  em- 
ployed — 

Views  of  Lagarde,  Wagner,  Lange,  Tannenberg,  Fry- 
mann  —  Proposed  peace  terms  with  France  —  Wolff  on 
policy  of  conquerors  —  Rohrbach  on  small  states  — 
Tannenberg's  Greater  Germany. 

5.  The  Belgian  deportations  — 

Descriptions  by  Boulger  and  Cardinal  Mercier  —  Ap- 
peal to  America  from  Holland  —  Stoddard  Dewey  — 
Belgian  Syndicalist  Committee  —  Municipal  Council  of 
Brussels  —  Women  of  France  —  Elihu  Root. 

6.  The  spoliation  of  Poland  — 

German  "Import  Company,  Ltd."  —  Starvation  and 

xix 


CONTENTS 

deportation  reports  from  "Nowa  Reforma,"  "Journal  de 
Geneve,"  "Lodzianin  "  —  Statement  of  Von  Hindenberg 
—  Explanation  of  German  theories  of  requisition  by  Von 
Hartmann. 

7.  Deportations  from  Lille  and  other  French  cities  — 

Report  by  French  Government  —  Proclamation  of 
German  authorities  —  Protests  of  Mayor  and  of  Bishops 
of  Lille  —  Letters  from  victims  —  Letter  to  the  President 
of  the  French  Republic. 

8.  The  German  state  of  mind  — 

Its  causes  —  Effect  on  public  opinion  by  use  of  poison- 
ous gases  and  burning  liquids  —  Refusal  of  Turks  to  use 
liquid  fire  —  Destruction  of  monuments  justified  by  Gen- 
eral von  Disfurth  —  Mistaken  methods  of  Germany  — 
Effect  in  England  of  executions  of  Captain  Fryatt  and  of 
Edith  Cavell  —  Effect  of  deportations  in  England  and 
France  —  Individual  liberty  versus  state  dominance. 
8.  Mass  psychology  — 

German  machinery  of  unification  —  Results  in  Bel- 
gium and  Poland  —  Root  quoted  —  Two  illustrations  of 
the  German  psychology:  Attempted  embroilment  of  Ja- 
pan and  Mexico  with  United  States;  charge  of  Zimmer- 
mann  of  United  States  "plot"  against  Germany. 

CHAPTER  XVI 

ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  FRANCE 352 

Extracts  from  French  Official  Report  —  Treatment  of 
civil  population  —  Crimes  against  women  and  girls  — 
Shooting  of  prisoners  —  Massacre  at  Nomeny  —  Two 
days  of  massacre  at  Gerbeviller  —  Sister  Julie's  testimony 
—  That  of  Professor  Morgan  —  Story  of  "Day  of  Honor," 
September  24,  1914,  by  German  officer,  Klempt,  in  "Jau- 
ersches  Tageblatt "  — Stephen  Pichon  on  "Martyrs  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine." 

CHAPTER  XVII 

ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  BY  THE  RUSSIAN  SOLDIERS  IN 
EAST  PRUSSIA 364 

The  Kaiser's  message  to  President  Wilson  —  Story  of 
Cossack  invasion  of  Bearskin  District.  Atrocities  during 

xx 


CONTENTS 

first  Russian  invasion,  from  German  Official  Records  — 
Harsh  war  levies  and  treatment  of  hostages  —  Story  of 
woman  from  Borszymmen  —  Deportations  to  Siberia  — 
Summary. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ALLEGED  GERMAN    ATROCITIES    AGAINST   THE    RUS- 
SIANS   371 

Russian  official  report  of  German  treatment  of  Rus- 
sian envoys  and  their  families  departing  from  Berlin  — 
Treatment  of  consuls  —  Departing  distinguished  visi- 
tors arrested  as  "prisoners  of  war"  —  Conditions  of 
travel  of  departing  Russians,  women  and  children,  aged 
and  invalids,  chiefly  from  German  health  resorts  —  Rus- 
sians treated  as  common  criminals  —  Arrest  of  Mr. 
Shebeko,  Member  of  Imperial  Council,  and  outrage  on 
Countess  Worontzoff-Dachkoff,  wife  of  the  Vice-Regent 
of  the  Caucasus  —  Despoiling  of  invalids  in  German  and 
Austrian  health  resorts  —  Regions  devastated  on  with- 
drawal of  German  troops  from  Russian  Poland  —  Ger- 
man atrocities  investigated  by  Extraordinary  Commis- 
sion appointed  on  initiative  of  Russian  State  Duma  — 
The  Germans  in  Czenstochow  —  Riches  stolen  from 
monastery  of  Iasnogor  —  Poignant  story  of  Mile.  Helene 
S.,  who  escaped  to  Petrograd. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA:  THE  TURKISH  METHODS 
OF  SPOLIATION,  DEPORTATION  AND  MASSACRE        .  390 

A  million  and  a  half  people  robbed,  tortured,  driven 
from  home  —  Half  of  them  perish  under  appalling  atroci- 
ties and  cruelty  —  "Turkey  for  the  Turks"  new  idea  of 
rulers  —  Talaat  Bey's  estimate  of  number  of  expelled 
Armenians  —  Turkish  methods  unparalleled  in  history 
—  Story  of  eighteen  thousand  exiles  in  one  caravan  — 
Armenian  colleges  established  by  Americans  —  Profes- 
sors and  students  arrested,  tortured  and  murdered  — 
Mamouret-ul-Aziz  in  1915  —  At  Aleppo  —  In  Marash  — 

xxi 


CONTENTS 

Results  of  deportations  in  certain  provinces  —  A  million 
deported  from  six  provinces  and  not  one  Armenian  left  — ■ 
Armenian  soldiers  massacred  —  Women  and  children 
prisoners  burned  at  Bitlis,  Moush,  and  Sassoun  —  Vic- 
tims outraged,  mutilated,  shot,  drowned,  and  stabbed  — ■ 
Extracts  from  interview  with  Commissioner  G.  Gorrini, 
late  Italian  Consul-General  at  Trebizond  —  Proclama- 
tion commanding  deportation  by  Turkish  Government. 

CHAPTER  XX 

ALLEGED  AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  ATROCITIES  IN  SERVIA  405 

Personal  investigation  by  Professor  R.  A.  Reiss,  of 
University  of  Lausanne  —  Massacres  of  civilians  by 
"bloodthirsty  and  Sadie  brutes"  —  Sinking  of  Ancona  re- 
lated by  Dr.  Cecile  Greil,  American  woman  survivor  — 
Over  two  hundred  perished  in  this  disaster. 

CHAPTER  XXI 

ENGLAND 411 

The  feeling  as  to  Germany  —  As  to  the  navy  —  As  to 
tariffs  —  As  to  labor  and  capital  —  As  to  France  —  As  to 
terms  of  peace  —  Industrial  reorganization  —  Woman's 
suffrage  —  Munition  factories  —  New  status  of  labor  — 
The  funeral  of  the  crew  of  the  Zeppelin  that  fell  at  Cuffly. 

CHAPTER  XXII 
GERMANY 430 

Feeling  as  the  victim  of  a  great  conspiracy  —  Inter- 
views with  Herr  Zimmermann  —  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg 

—  Visit  to  Professor  Eucken  —  Belief  as  to  submarine 

—  Certainty  of  success. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
TURKEY 438 

Journey  to  Constantinople  —  My  interviews  with  the 
Grand  Vizier  and  Talaat  Bey  —  Comparison  of  Constan- 

xxii 


CONTENTS 

tinople  to  New  Orleans  —  Russia  and  the  Bosphorus  — 
Germany's  dream  of  the  Orient  —  The  fate  of  Egypt  — 
The  British  Empire. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
OUR  SISTER  FRANCE  — A  TRIBUTE  .        .        .        .458 

CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 464 

Mexico  the  Turkey  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  —  Lin- 
coln on  our  great  possession  —  The  foundations  of  the 
United  States  as  laid  by  Jefferson  and  Monroe  —  Our 
dealings  with  the  Barbary  pirates  —  Our  duty  toward 
maintaining  public  right  — Mr.  Hoover's  work  in  Bel- 
gium —  Washington's  words  as  to  the  law  of  nations. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

HEROIC  VOICES 476 

Letters  from  soldiers  —  Anecdotes  of  self-sacrifice  — 
The  women  of  Europe  —  Edith  Cavell. 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   WORLD   AT   THE   END   OF   THE   NINETEENTH 

CENTURY 

The  discoveries  in  science,  and  their  application,  by 
organization,  to  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth 
made  a  new  world  during  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is 
difficult  to  overestimate  the  changes  wrought  by  the 
railroad,  steam,  electricity,  and  the  hundreds  of  other 
inventions  and  discoveries.  Their  most  fateful  result 
was  the  modification  of  the  accidental  relations  of 
nations  and  populations  to  territory  and  access  to 
the  sea. 

Japan  has  a  population  of  55,000,000,  and  its  arable 
land  has  an  area  of  about  20,000  square  miles.  If  all 
the  population  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  were 
confined  to  the  State  of  Iowa,  each  person  would  have 
as  much  arable  land  as  is  available  to  each  inhabitant 
of  Japan.   Japan  has  unlimited  access  to  the  sea. 

Russia  is  larger  than  North  America,  and  it  is  esti- 
mated that  by  the  end  of  the  century  it  will  have 
nearly  half  a  billion  inhabitants.  With  proper  cultiva- 
tion it  could  produce  enough  food  to  supply  the  world, 
but  its  access  to  the  chief  markets  of  the  world  is  by 
the  Baltic  and  the  Bosphorus.  If  the  United  States 
were  in  the  same  condition  her  people  could  reach  the 
sea  only  by  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  the  Gulf  of 

1 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Mexico,  with  both  routes  liable  to  be  closed  in  time 
of  war. 

Germany,  a  trifle  larger  than  the  State  of  California, 
has  two  thirds  the  population  of  the  United  States. 
Her  access  to  the  sea  is  limited  to  her  northwestern 
borders,  and  can  be  denied  in  time  of  war.  The  vital 
interests  of  Germany  demand  a  military  establish- 
ment sufficiently  strong  so  that  with  her  allies  she 
can  resist  successfully  any  possible  combination  of 
enemies. 

The  British  Empire  consists  of  the  Islands  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  (whose  population  largely  depends 
on  sea-borne  commerce;  the  United  Kingdom  would 
perish  if  cut  off  from  food  imports  by  sea)  and  several 
small  nations,  Canada,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and 
South  Africa,  and  numerous  dependencies  and  colonies, 
like  India  and  Egypt,  and  other  possessions  in  Africa 
and  elsewhere.  No  single  unit  composing  the  British 
Empire,  except  the  United  Kingdom,  could  successfully 
resist  a  powerful  aggressor.  Their  safety  depends  on 
union  with  England,  and  the  safety  of  England  and 
the  various  component  parts  of  the  British  Empire  can 
last  only  so  long  as  Great  Britain  possesses  an  enor- 
mous mercantile  marine,  and  a  navy  that  will  with  her 
allies  absolutely  protect  this  mercantile  marine  against 
any  possible  hostile  combination  of  navies. 

Of  all  the  nations  in  the  world  the  United  States  is 
the  most  fortunately  situated.  She  possesses  enormous 
territory,  has  no  dangerous  neighbors,  and  has  unlim- 
ited access  to  the  sea.  This  access  to  the  sea,  combined 
with  a  highly  organized  and  adequate  railway  system, 
enables  her  easily  to  reach  the  markets  of  the  world. 
With  a  sufficient  navy,  and  an  army  small  compared 

0| 


THE  END  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

with  the  armies  of  European  countries,  and  a  proper 
policy  toward  Mexico,  the  United  States  would  be  the 
safest  nation  in  the  world.  It  is  a  continent  in  area 
and  an  island  in  defensibility. 

The  French  Revolution  is  the  most  potent  event  in 
the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years.  It  was  the  prime 
cause  of  universal  military  service  in  Europe.  It  intro- 
duced the  idea  of  universal  suffrage.  Above  all,  it 
intensified  the  sense  of  nationality. 

The  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed 
the  creation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  and  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  The  creation  of  these  two  nations  still 
further  intensified  the  feeling  of  nationality. 

Germany  has  been  very  fortunate  in  a  sequence  of 
great  statesmen,  as  well  as  in  leaders  in  science,  social 
organization,  industry,  and  commerce.  Her  poets, 
philosophers,  historians,  composers,  enriched  her  na- 
tional life  and  intensified  the  national  feeling.  All  the 
world  knows  of  the  unparalleled  efficiency  of  the  social 
and  industrial  organization  of  Germany. 

The  bounds  of  the  territory  of  Germany  were  estab- 
lished and  could  not  well  be  enlarged  in  Europe.  The 
passionate  sense  of  national  self-consciousness,  as  well 
as  need  of  new  fields  for  industrial  exploitation,  forced 
Germany  to  seek  "a  place  in  the  sun."  This  move- 
ment was  backed  by  an  enormous  propaganda,  which 
aroused  anxiety  and  hostility  in  the  neighboring  states. 

An  atmosphere  of  mutual  hostility  Was  produced 
between  England  and  Germany  on  account  of  the 
rapid  development  of  the  German  navy.  The  hostility 
between  France  and  Germany  was  kept  alive  partly 
by  the  Alsace-Lorraine  question  and  partly  by  col- 
lisions on  various  other  questions;  and  early  in  the 

3 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

present  century  the  interests  of  Germany  and  Russia 
became  more  and  more  antagonistic  on  account  of 
Germany's  ambitions  in  Turkey. 

The  potential  causes  of  the  war  are  dealt  with  in  the 
next  two  chapters,  which  also  tell  of  the  agreement 
between  Germany,  France,  and  England.  This  agree- 
ment would  likely  have  brought  peace  for  generations 
to  the  nations  of  Europe,  had  it  not  been  for  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  the  war,  —  the  assassination  of  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Austria-Hungary. 

The  principal  effort  of  Germany  for  expansion  was 
in  Asiatic  Turkey.  This  field  which  Germany  sought 
I  will  describe  in  my  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II 

ASIATIC   TURKEY:   THE   BAGDAD   RAILWAY 

However  difficult  the  various  questions  involved  in 
the  peace  settlement,  —  and  no  one  can  exaggerate 
the  almost  insoluble  questions,  —  the  real  problem 
of  this  war  is  Asiatic  Turkey.  The  settlement  of  this 
question  may  involve  a  continuous  series  of  devas- 
tating wars  at  longer  or  shorter  intervals  for  genera- 
tions. 

From  an  economic  standpoint  the  control  of  the 
resources  and  of  the  development  of  Asiatic  Turkey  is 
a  vital  necessity  to  Germany. 

From  a  military  standpoint  the  control  of  Asiatic 
Turkey  by  Germany  would  so  shift  the  seats  of  power 
in  the  world  as  vitally  to  threaten  the  very  existence 
of  the  British  Empire. 

If  there  can  be  found  no  other  alternative  than  the 
control  of  this  territory,  either  by  Germany  and  her 
allies,  or  by  England  and  her  allies,  resulting  in  the 
one  case  in  threatening  the  safety  of  the  British  Em- 
pire, and  in  the  other  in  preventing  German  expan- 
sion, —  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  will  dominate  the 
twentieth  century. 

Here  are  the  facts  in  this  problem. 

Asiatic  Turkey  as  a  field  for  German  enterprise 

Asiatic  Turkey  is  almost  one  fourth  as  large  as  the 
United  States,  or  about  the  size  of  Mexico.  While  it 
contains  much  desert  territory,  it  also  has  very  fertile 

5 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

regions,  and  above  all,  great  tracts  of  land  that  could 
be  redeemed  by  irrigation. 

In  an  address  before  the  Khedival  Geographical 
Society  at  Cairo,  Sir  William  Willcocks,  a  famous 
engineer,  who  had  surveyed  the  country  and  planned 
great  irrigation  works,  said  of  Mesopotamia:  — 

We  have  before  us  the  restoration  of  that  ancient  land 
whose  name  was  a  synonym  for  abundance,  prosperity,  and 
grandeur  for  many  generations.  Records  as  old  as  those  of 
Egypt  and  as  well  attested  tell  of  fertile  lands  and  teeming 
populations,  mighty  kings  and  warriors,  sages  and  wise  men, 
over  periods  of  thousands  of  years.  And  over  and  above 
everything  else  there  is  this  unfailing  record  that  the  teem- 
ing wealth  of  this  land  was  the  goal  of  all  Eastern  conquerors 
and  its  possession  the  crown  of  their  conquests.  The  Eastern 
Power  which  held  this  land  in  old  historic  days  held  the 
East.  A  land  such  as  this  is  worth  resuscitating.  Once  we 
have  apprehended  the  true  cause  of  its  present  desolate 
and  abandoned  condition,  we  are  on  our  way  to  restoring  it 
to  its  ancient  fertility.  A  land  which  so  readily  responded 
to  ancient  science,  and  gave  a  return  which  sufficed  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  Persian  Court  in  all  its  splendor,  will  surely 
respond  to  the  efforts  of  modern  science  and  return  manifold 
the  money  and  talent  spent  on  its  regeneration.  ...  Of  all 
the  regions  of  the  earth,  no  region  is  more  favored  by  nature 
for  the  production  of  cereals  than  the  lands  on  the  Tigris. 
Indeed,  I  have  heard  our  former  President,  Dr.  Schwein- 
furth,  say,  in  this  very  hall,  that  wheat  in  its  wild,  unculti- 
vated state  has  its  home  in  these  semi-arid  regions  and 
from  here  it  has  been  transported  to  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  Cotton,  sugar-cane,  Indian  corn,  and  all  the  summer 
products  of  Egypt  will  flourish  here  as  on  the  Nile,  while 
the  winter  products  of  cereals,  leguminous  plants,  Egyptian 
clover,  opium,  and  tobacco  will  find  themselves  at  home  as 
they  did  in  Egypt.  Of  the  historic  gardens  of  Babylon  and 
Bagdad  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak.  A  land  whose 
climate  allows  her  to  produce  such  crops  in  tropical  profu- 

6 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

sion,  and  whose  snow-fed  rivers  permit  of  perennial  irriga- 
tion over  millions  of  acres,  cannot  be  barren  and  desolate 
when  the  Bagdad  Railway  is  traversing  her  fields  and 
European  capital  is  seeking  there  a  remunerative  outlet. 

Asiatic  Turkey  was  famous  in  antiquity  for  its  agri- 
cultural wealth.  Agriculture  was  the  basis  of  the  vast 
wealth  of  Babylonia,  Assyria,  Lydia,  Media,  Phoenicia, 
which  had  occupied  what  is  now  Asiatic  Turkey. 

In  my  interview  with  H.  E.  Ahmed  Nessimi  Bey, 
Minister  of  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and  Mines  of  the 
Imperial  Ottoman  Empire,  I  made  particular  inquiries 
as  to  the  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth  of  Turkey. 
The  replies  I  received  were  the  result  of  several  weeks 
of  investigation  largely  by  German  experts. 
5  Coal  mines  are  very  abundant  and  rich.  Arganis 
copper  mines  are  the  biggest  and  richest  in  the  world. 
Mesopotamia  forms  the  richest  petroleum  district  in 
the  world.  The  country  is  extremely  rich  in  minerals, 
including  gold,  silver,  nickel,  mercury,  lead,  and  these 
resources  are  untouched. 

The  undeveloped  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth 
of  a  country  nearly  one  fourth  as  large  as  the  United 
States  would  furnish  to  Germany  a  new  and  great 
realm  and  give  her  a  place  in  the  sun  that  could  utilize 
her  force  and  genius  for  many  generations.  Just  as 
the  mineral  wealth  of  Alsace-Lorraine  is  the  basis  of 
Germany's  industrial  development,  so  the  possession 
of  Asiatic  Turkey  is  absolutely  essential  for  Germany's 
expansion. 

Asiatic  Turkey  is  the  land  of  the  Bible.  In  a  bril- 
liant study  of  this  marvelous  land  in  the  "Nineteenth 
Century"  for  June,  1916,  J.  Ellis  Barker  writes  as 
follows :  — 

7 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

Mesopotamia  has  almost  unlimited  agricultural  possibili- 
ties. Babylonia  and  Assyria  were  the  cradle  of  Christian 
civilization  and  perhaps  of  mankind.  Chapter  n,  verse  8, 
of  Genesis  tells  us:  "And  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden 
eastward  in  Eden;  and  there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had 
formed."  The  word  "Eden"  is  the  Sumerian  word,  as 
Assyriologists  have  told  us,  for  "  plain."  The  ancient  Baby- 
lonians also  had  a  myth  of  a  great  plain  in  the  center  of 
which  stood  the  Tree  of  Knowledge,  and  they  possessed  like- 
wise the  story  of  the  Flood  and  of  the  Ark.  In  Genesis, 
chapter  n,  verse  14,  we  read  in  the  description  of  Paradise: 
"And  the  name  of  the  third  river  is  Hiddekel:  that  is  it 
which  goeth  toward  the  east  of  Assyria.  And  the  fourth 
river  is  Euphrates."  Assyriologists  tell  us  that  the  four 
rivers  mentioned  in  the  Bible  were  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris,  and  two  of  the  huge  artificial  canals  which  the 
ancients  had  constructed.  In  chapter  x  of  Genesis  we  are 
made  acquainted  with  Nimrod,  Babel,  Erech,  Accad,  Cal- 
neh,  Nineveh,  and  other  Babylonian  names.  Ur,  on  "the 
Euphrates  near  Babylon,  was  the  birthplace  of  Abraham. 
The  ancient  Jews  placed  their  Paradise  in  Eden  because 
Eden,  the  Mesopotamian  plain,  was  then  the  garden  of  the 
world.  Herodotus,  who  had  visited  Mesopotamia  and  the 
town  of  Babylon,  and  who  wrote  about  the  year  450  B.C., 
has  told  us  —  the  translation  is  Rawlinson's:  "The  whole 
of  Babylonia  is,  like  Egypt,  intersected  with  canals.  The 
largest  of  them  all,  which  runs  towards  the  winter  sun,  and 
is  impassable  except  in  boats,  is  carried  from  the  Euphrates 
into  another  stream,  called  the  Tigris,  the  river  upon  which 
the  town  of  Nineveh  formerly  stood.  Of  all  the  countries 
that  we  know,  there  is  none  which  is  so  fruitful  in  grain.  It 
makes  no  pretension,  indeed,  of  growing  the  fig,  the  olive, 
the  vine,  or  any  other  tree  of  the  kind,  but  in  grain  it  is  so 
fruitful  as  to  yield  commonly  two  hundredfold.  The  blade 
of  the  wheat  plant  and  barley  plant  is  often  four  fingers  in 
breadth.  As  for  the  millet  and  the  sesame,  I  shall  not  say 
to  what  height  they  grow,  though  within  my  own  know- 
ledge, for  I  am  not  ignorant  that  what  I  have  already  written 
concerning  the  fruitfulness  of  Babylonia  must  seem  incred- 

8 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

ible  to  those  who  have  never  visited  the  country.  The  whole 
country  under  the  domination  of  the  Persians,  besides  pay- 
ing a  fixed  tribute,  is  parceled  out  into  divisions  to  supply 
food  to  the  Great  King  and  his  army.  Now,  out  of  the 
twelve  months  of  the  year,  the  district  of  Babylon  furnished 
food  during  four;  the  other  regions  of  Asia  during  eight;  by 
which  it  appears  that  Assyria,  in  respect  of  resources,  is  one 
third  the  whole  of  Asia." 

Apparently  Mesopotamia  was  at  the  time  almost  twice 
as  wealthy  as  Egypt.  According  to  the  ancient  writers,  the 
fruitfulness  of  Babylonia  exceeded  that  of  Egypt.  Assyria 
and  Babylonia  were  the  wealthiest  countries  of  antiquity, 
and  Mesopotamia  was  the  richest  part  of  the  great  Persian 
Empire.  Persia's  wealth  was  chiefly  Babylonian  wealth. 
In  the  Middle  Ages,  Bagdad  arose  among  the  Babylonian 
ruins,  and  between  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  it  had 
2,000,000  inhabitants,  60,000  baths,  80,000  bazaars,  etc. 
It  was  the  capital  of  the  gigantic  Arab  Empire,  the  wealth 
of  which  was  founded  upon  the  flourishing  agriculture  of  the 
Babylonian  plain. 

In  olden  times  Babylonia  was  perfectly  irrigated. 
Under  the  Turks,  the  wonderful  system  of  canals  fell 
into  neglect.  The  Babylonian  plain  became  partly 
a  desert  and  partly  a  swamp.  Mesopotamia,  which, 
in  olden  times,  was  the  most  densely  populated  part 
of  the  world,  is  at  present  the  most  sparsely  peopled 
part  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  All  Mesopotamia  has 
at  present  only  two  million  inhabitants,  or  fourteen 
people  per  square  mile,  and  it  could  support  thirty 
million  people. 

European  diplomacy  for  ten  years  and  the  chief 
causes  of  this  war  have  to  do  with  the  questions  in- 
volved in  Asiatic  Turkey.  Asiatic  Turkey  is  a  natural, 
almost  uninvadable  fortress,  but  a  fortress  that  is  self- 
sustaining  as  to  food  and  military  supplies.    While 

9 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Asiatic  Turkey  has  the  natural  resources  to  support 
an  enormous  population,  and  while  its  relation  be- 
tween the  three  continents,  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, 
gives  it  a  strategic  position  that  cannot  be  overrated, 
it  must  be  understood  that  in  itself  it  is  very  easily 
defended.  Its  land  frontiers  are  protected  by  vast 
waterless  deserts  or  lofty  mountain  ranges.  Its  water 
frontiers,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Mediterranean,  the  Red 
Sea,  the  Persian  Gulf,  complete  its  boundaries,  so  as 
to  give  it  the  advantage  of  being  an  island. 

It  is  the  seat  of  power  to  control  the  Mohammedan 
world.  Whatever  may  be  in  the  minds  of  the  states- 
men of  Europe,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  all  other 
questions  involved  in  the  great  war  are  minor  com- 
pared to  the  future  of  Asiatic  Turkey. 

Quite  recently  both  Mr.  Asquith  and  Mr.  Sazonov 
have  stated  definitely  that  Russia  and  England  have 
agreed  as  to  all  the  questions  involved  in  the  Near 
East,  including  their  respective  intentions  as  to 
Asiatic  Turkey. 

In  the  "Nineteenth  Century"  for  June,  1916,  Ellis 
Barker  continues :  — 

Asiatic  Turkey  is  a  natural  fortress  which  possesses  vast 
possibilities  for  attack,  for  it  borders  upon  some  of  the  most 
valuable  and  most  vulnerable  positions  in  the  world,  and  it 
is  able  to  dominate  them  and  to  seize  them  by  a  surprise 
attack.  In  the  north  it  can  threaten  the  rich  Caucasian 
provinces  of  Russia  and  their  oil  fields,  with  Tiflis,  Batum, 
Baku.  From  its  six  hundred  miles  of  Black  Sea  coast  it 
can  attack  the  rich  Russian  Black  Sea  provinces,  with 
the  Crimea,  Odessa,  Nikolaeff,  and  Kherson.  It  can  easily 
strike  across  the  narrow  Bosphorus  at  Constantinople. 
Toward  the  west  of  Asia  Minor,  and  in  easy  reach  of  it,  lie 
the  beautiful  Greek    and    Italian  islands  in  the  JEge&n, 

10 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

which  until  recently  belonged  to  Turkey,  and  lies  Greece 
itself,  which  for  centuries  was  a  Turkish  possession.  West 
of  Turkish  Syria  lie  the  Suez  Canal,  Egypt,  Erythea,  and 
the  Italian  and  French  colonies  of  North  Africa. 

A  powerful  Asiatic  Turkey  can  obviously  dominate  not 
only  the  Bosphorus,  the  Dardanelles,  and  the  Suez  Canal, 
but  the  very  narrow  entrance  of  the  Red  Sea  near  Aden, 
and  that  of  the  Persian  Gulf  near  Muscat,  as  well.  It  must 
also  not  be  forgotten  that  only  a  comparatively  short  dis- 
tance, a  stretch  of  country  under  the  nominal  rule  of  weak 
and  decadent  Persia,  separates  Asiatic  Turkey  from  the 
Indian  frontier.  It  is  clear  that  Asiatic  Turkey,  lying  in  the 
center  of  the  old  world,  is  at  the  same  time  a  natural  for- 
tress of  the  greatest  defensive  strength  and  an  ideal  base 
for  a  surprise  attack  upon  southern  Russia,  Constantinople, 
the  iEgean  Islands,  Greece,  the  Suez  Canal,  Egypt,  Persia, 
Afghanistan,  and  India. 

Asiatic  Turkey  is  economically  very  important,  not  only 
because  it  is  possible  to  increase  enormously  its  stunted 
power  of  production,  but  also  because,  with  the  building  of 
railways,  an  enormous  passenger  and  goods  traffic  may  be 
developed  on  the  direct  line  which  connects  Central  Europe 
with  India  and  China  via  Asia  Minor.  The  intercourse  be- 
tween East  and  West  is  rapidly  increasing.  The  Suez  Canal 
traffic  came  in  1870  to  436,609  tons  net.  In  1876  it  came  to 
2,096,771  tons,  in  1882  to  5,074,808  tons,  in  1901  to  10,823,- 
840,  and  in  1912  to  20,275,120  tons  net.  The  geographical 
position  of  Asia  Minor  on  the  shortest  trade  route  connect- 
ing the  East  with  the  West,  which  gave  wealth  to  Phoenicia, 
and  which  made  Sidon  and  Tyre  the  merchants  of  the  an- 
cient world  and  the  founders  of  a  far-flung  sea-empire,  may 
greatly  enrich  its  inhabitants. 

What  a  fundamental  change  in  the  strategical 
position  of  this  region  might  imply  for  Great  Britain 
was  well  expressed  by  so  eminent  and  impartial  an 
authority  as  A.  T.  Mahan,  when  he  said,  in  his 
"Retrospect  and  Prospect  "  (1902) :  — 

11 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

The  control  of  the  Persian  Gulf  by  a  foreign  state  of  con- 
siderable naval  potentiality,  a  "fleet  in  being"  there,  based 
upon  a  strong  military  port,  would  reproduce  the  relations 
of  Cadiz,  Gibraltar,  and  Malta  to  the  Mediterranean.  It 
would  flank  all  the  routes  to  the  Farther  East,  to  India  and 
to  Australia,  the  last  two  actually  internal  to  the  Empire, 
regarded  as  a  political  system;  and,  although  at  present 
Great  Britain  unquestionably  could  check  such  a  fleet,  it 
might  well  require  a  detachment  large  enough  to  affect  seri- 
ously the  general  strength  of  her  naval  position.  .  .  .  Con- 
cessions in  the  Persian  Gulf,  whether  by  positive  formal 
arrangement,  or  by  simple  neglect  of  the  local  commercial 
interests  which  now  underlie  political  and  military  control, 
will  imperil  Great  Britain's  naval  situation  in  the  Farther 
East,  her  political  position  in  India,  her  commercial  interests 
in  both,  and  the  Imperial  tie  between  herself  and  Australia. 

The  "Times  Current  History"  (vol.  VI,  p.  731)  re- 
prints a  short  article  by  Dr.  Paul  Rohrbach,  entitled 
"On  the  Road  to  India."   Dr.  Rohrbach  says  in  part: 

By  getting  control  of  Egypt,  England,  on  the  one  hand, 
greatly  strengthened  her  position  as  a  world-power,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  she  made  herself  vulnerable  on  land.  It  was 
supposed  before  that  England's  weak  spot,  her  tendon  of 
Achilles,  was  India.  But  after  she  proved  during  the  Boer 
War  that  she  could  transport  an  army  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  men  over  great  distances  by  sea,  and  keep  them 
supplied,  the  probability  waned  of  a  Russian  attack  on 
India.  Russia  could  hardly  transport  over  the  difficult 
mountain  roads  of  the  Pamirs  and  Afghanistan  the  number 
of  men  required  for  overrunning  India,  even  if  she  had  at 
the  outset  the  sympathies  of  a  part  of  the  natives. 

But  it  is  otherwise  with  Egypt.  From  the  earliest  days  to 
which  we  can  go  back  in  history,  the  rulers  of  Egypt,  from 
the  first  of  the  Pharaohs,  have,  on  account  of  the  geographical 
peculiarities  of  the  frontier  between  Asia  and  Africa,  always 
tried  to  strengthen  their  hold  on  their  dominions  by  getting 
control  of  the  territories  lying  on  the  other  side  of  the 

12 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

Isthmus  of  Suez  —  Palestine  and  Syria.  And  strong  Asiatic 
empires,  for  their  part,  who  numbered  Syria  among  their 
provinces,  have  coveted  Egypt.  As  soon  as  England  ac- 
quired Egypt  it  was  incumbent  upon  her  to  guard  against 
any  menace  from  Asia.  Such  a  danger  apparently  arose 
when  Turkey,  weakened  by  her  last  war  with  Russia  and 
by  difficult  conditions  at  home,  began  to  turn  to  Germany 
for  support. 

And  now  war  has  come  and  England  is  reaping  the  crops 
which  she  has  sown.  England,  not  we,  desired  this  war. 
She  knows  this,  despite  all  her  hypocritical  talk,  and  she 
fears  that,  as  soon  as  connection  is  established  along  the 
Berlin-Vienna-Budapest-Sofia-Constantinople  line,  the  fate 
of  Egypt  may  be  decided.  Through  the  Suez  Canal  goes  the 
route  to  all  the  lands  surrounding  the  Indian  Ocean,  and, 
by  way  of  Singapore,  to  the  western  shores  of  the  Pacific. 
These  two  worlds  together  have  about  900,000,000  inhab- 
itants, more  than  half  the  population  of  the  universe,  and 
India  lies  in  a  controlling  position  in  their  midst.  Should 
England  lose  the  Suez  Canal,  she  will  be  obliged,  unlike  the 
powers  in  control  of  that  waterway,  to  use  the  long  route 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  depend  on  the  good-will 
of  the  South  African  Boers.  The  majority  among  the  latter 
have  not  the  same  views  as  Botha. 

The  Socialist  "Leipziger  Volkszeitung "  declared 
in  March,  1911,  that  "the  new  situation  shortly  to 
be  created  in  Asia  Minor  would  hasten  the  break-up 
of  the  British  Empire,  which  was  already  beginning 
to  totter." 

In  "Die  Neue  Zeit"  for  June  2,  1911,  Herr  Karl 
Radek  said :  — 

The  strengthening  of  German  Imperialism,  the  first  suc- 
cess of  which,  attained  with  so  much  effort,  is  the  Bagdad 
Railway;  the  victory  of  the  revolutionary  party  in  Turkey; 
the  prospect  of  a  modern  revolutionary  movement  in  India, 
which,  of  course,  must  be  regarded  as  a  very  different  thing 

13 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

from  the  earlier  scattered  risings  of  industrial  tribes;  the 
movement  toward  nationalization  in  Egypt;  the  beginning 
of  reform  in  Egypt;  —  all  this  has  raised  to  an  extraordin- 
ary degree  the  political  significance  of  the  Bagdad  Railway 
question. 

The  Bagdad  Railway  being  a  blow  at  the  interests  of 
English  Imperialism,  Turkey  could  entrust  its  construc- 
tion only  to  the  German  company,  because  she  knew  that 
Germany's  army  and  navy  stood  behind  her,  which  fact 
makes  it  appear  to  England  and  Russia  inadvisable  to  exert 
too  sensitive  a  pressure  upon  Turkey. 

In  the  "Akademische  Blatter"  of  June  1, 1911,  Pro- 
fessor R.  Mangelsdorf,  another  recognized  authority 
on  German  policy  and  politics,  wrote :  — 

The  political  and  military  power  an  organized  railway 
system  will  confer  upon  Turkey  is  altogether  in  the  interest 
of  Germany,  which  can  obtain  a  share  in  actual  economic 
developments  only  if  Turkey  is  independent;  and,  besides, 
any  attempt  to  increase  the  power  and  ambition  of  Eng- 
land, in  any  case  oppressively  great,  is  thereby  effectively 
thwarted.  To  some  extent,  indeed,  Turkey's  construction  of 
a  railway  system  is  a  threat  to  England,  for  it  means  that 
an  attack  on  the  most  vulnerable  part  of  the  body  of  Eng- 
land's world-empire,  namely,  Egypt,  comes  well  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility. 

Professor  Charles  Seymour,  of  Yale  University,  in 
his  accurate  and  comprehensive  book,  "The  Diplo- 
matic Background  of  the  War,"  says:  — 

The  Bagdad  Railway  was  designed  so  as  to  connect  Haldar 
Pasha,  one  of  the  Asiatic  suburbs  of  Constantinople,  with 
one  of  the  harbors  conceded  to  Germany  on  the  Persian 
Gulf. 

The  railway  was  to  follow  the  route  of  Cyrus  and  the  Ten 
Thousand  in  the  "  Anabasis,"  over  the  Taurus  and  down  into 
the  plains  of  Mesopotamia.    Two  branch  railways  of  the 

14 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

utmost  importance  were  secured  by  the  German  company: 
the  one  was  the  most  direct  trade  route  to  Smyrna;  the  other 
gave  connection  with  the  port  of  Alexandretta.  Further- 
more, the  Germans  later  obtained  the  concession  of  the  line 
planned  to  run  between  Aleppo,  Damascus,  and  Mecca,  the 
route  which  would  naturally  be  taken  by  all  Moslem  pil- 
grims. Even  the  Holy  Land  will  radiate  from  Mecca  to 
Constantinople,  and  from  Smyrna  to  the  Persian  Gulf. 
One  terminus  will  be  within  twelve  hours  of  Egypt,  another 
terminus  will  be  within  four  days  of  Bombay. 

The  constitution  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  Company  may 
be  said  to  be  an  event  of  the  first  importance  in  the  history 
of  European  diplomacy.  It  was  the  first  step  in  Germany's 
southeastern  policy  which  was  designed  to  win  for  German 
traders  complete  economic  control  over  the  Turkish  do- 
minions and  ultimately,  possibly,  a  political  protectorate; 
Germany  was  to  "  add  to  her  sway  the  ancient  empire  of 
Semiramis  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  Cyrus  and  Haroun 
al  Raschid."  Asia  Minor  and  Mesopotamia  are  districts 
which  have  been  among  the  most  prosperous  and  productive 
in  the  whole  world. 

If  Germany  was  to  carry  her  Mesopotamian  and  Turkish 
policy  to  success,  another  aspect  of  the  Near  Eastern  ques- 
tion concerned  her  very  closely,  namely,  the  position  of  the 
independent  Balkan  States.  Should  those  nations  become 
powerful  and  diplomatically  autonomous  the  security  of  the 
path  from  Germany  to  Constantinople  would  be  threatened. 
They  must,  therefore,  be  subjected  to  the  domination  of 
Germany,  or  better  still,  to  that  of  Germany's  ally,  Austria; 
for  Austria  has  always  had  greater  success  than  Germany  in 
dealing  with  the  Slavs.  In  no  event  could  the  Slavs  be  al- 
lowed to  control  the  Balkans,  lest  Germany's  communica- 
tions with  Asia  Minor  be  cut.  Thus,  a  regenerated  Turkey 
must  guard  the  Straits  while  Austria  dominated  the  Balkans. 
With  her  ally,  Austria,  supreme  on  the  Danube,  and  her 
friend,  Turkey,  in  control  of  the  Dardanelles,  Germany 
might  reasonably  hope  to  be  master  of  a  sweep  of  territory 
extending  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  She 
would  cut  Russia  from  her  Mediterranean  trade,  hold  the 

15 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

shortest  route  to  the  East,  and  threaten  the  position  of 
the  British  in  Egypt  and  India. 

Asiatic  Turkey  dominates  the  three  continents  of 
the  Eastern  Hemisphere  where  live  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  human  race.  In  control  of  its  resources,  economic 
and  military,  Germany  would  become  the  dominating 
world-power.  It  is  the  center  of  the  Mohammedan 
world,  and  Pan-Islamism,  supported  by  Germany, 
would  get  a  new  lease  of  life. 

The  Turks  have  gifts  neither  for  government  nor  for 
industrial  organization;  Turkey  can  exist  only  as  a 
vassal  ally  of  some  other  power.  Some  other  power,  or 
powers,  will  inevitably  dominate  and  develop  this 
most  valuable  region,  valuable  largely  because  the 
control  of  Asiatic  Turkey  means  a  long  step  toward 
world-power.  Germany  and  Turkey  are  at  present  in 
close  economic  and  military  alliance. 

Of  especial  interest,  therefore,  was  my  interview 
with  Talaat  Bey,  the  dictator  of  Turkey.  He  impressed 
me  as  a  man  of  absolute  force,  of  tremendous  energy 
and  executive  ability.  The  picture  of  Turkey  and 
Islamism  as  seen  to-day  by  the  Turks  never  before 
has  seemed  so  promising.  Turkey  is  no  longer  the 
Sick  Man  of  Europe,  but  a  people  young,  energetic, 
ambitious.  This  impression  I  received  from  Talaat 
Bey. 

After  two  long  interviews  with  this  distinguished 
man,  I  submitted  to  him,  in  writing,  a  series  of  ques- 
tions. These  questions  were  answered  after  careful 
cooperation  with  the  heads  of  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment, aided  by  experts.  The  document  thus  prepared 
was  sent  to  the  Turkish  Embassy  in  Berlin,  thence  to 
the  German  Foreign  Office,  and  after  several  days' 

16 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

deliberation  was  finally  given  to  me  intact,  in  writing, 
in  English,  just  as  it  had  left  the  hands  of  Talaat  Bey. 
Its  statements  were  as  follows :  — 

Knowing  that  railways  are  the  basis  of  all  kinds  of  eco- 
nomic, industrial,  commercial,  as  well  as  agricultural  pro- 
gress, and  seeing  that  our  present  railways  are  not  sufficient 
for  our  military  and  commercial  purposes,  we  intend  to  build 
a  complete  network  of  railways  over  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. All  big  cities  will  be  joined  to  the  different  seaports. 
Thus  our  mineral,  agricultural,  and  industrial  products  will 
have  an  easy  exit  to  the  outer  world.  Up  till  now  railway 
concessions  have  been  used  by  certain  powers  as  political 
weapons  against  independence.  Now  we  are  fighting  for  a 
complete  independence  and  for  national  existence;  and, 
wishing  to  be  masters  of  our  domain,  we  intend  to  buy  all 
railways  as  soon  as  opportunities  arise. 

Egypt  is  an  autonomous  vilayet  of  the  Ottoman  empire; 
Egypt  will  have  all  the  rights  bestowed  on  her  of  self-govern- 
ment with  a  constitution.  It  will  be  the  same  to  our  empire 
as  Hungary  to  Austria. 

Tripoli  was  a  part  of  our  empire  which  was  captured  in  a 
pirate  manner  by  Italy.  Italy  having  not  handed  over  our 
islands  on  one  side  and  declaring  war  on  the  other  side,  we 
count  our  treaty  with  her  as  nil  and  will  make  Tripoli  an- 
other Egypt  under  the  rule  of  Sheikh  Senussi. 

Tunis  shall  also  be  made  like  Egypt  or  Tripoli. 

Algiers,  Morocco,  and  Sahara  being  Moslem  land,  we 
want  to  free  them  from  the  foreign  yoke  if  it  shall  be  possi- 
ble; otherwise,  we  will  do  our  best  to  insure  their  national, 
social,  and  religious  rights,  and  by  so  doing  lessen  their 
sufferings. 

Persia  being  a  sister  country  and  natural  ally  of  Turkey, 
we  wish  to  see  her  independent,  strong,  prosperous,  and  pro- 
gressive. We  will  help  her  by  all  possible  means  and  do  our 
best  to  protect  her  rights  and  integrity. 

India  being  an  eastern  country  and  having  more  than 
80,000,000  of  Moslems,  we  wish  to  see  her  independent, 
prosperous,  regaining  her  old  glories.  We  are  doing  our  best 

17 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

to  insure  to  this  country  all  national,  religious,  political 
freedom  and  aspiration. 

We  want  to  put  our  empire  on  the  same  footing  as  any 
other  European  power  in  regard  to  military,  educational, 
industrial,  and,  more  than  anything  else,  moral  progress. 

The  progress  of  Islam  in  Africa  is  a  natural  phenomenon, 
showing  the  vitality  of  Islam.  It  is  done  without  any  mis- 
sionary effort.  It  emancipates  the  ignorant  people  from  the 
darkness  of  brutality  to  civilization.  Our  Sheik-ul-Islam  will 
be  doing  humanity  a  great  good  and  a  great  service  to  Islam 
if  he  will  form  a  missionary  body  to  propagandize  Islam  in 
Africa  and  turn  the  heathen  into  true  believers. 

These  were  no  empty  words;  they  expressed  the 
assured  policy  of  Turkey,  strengthened  by  her  eco- 
nomic and  military  alliance  with  Germany  and  her 
allies. 

The  interests  of  Russia  in  regard  to  the  Bosphorus 
and  Asia  Minor  are  antagonistic  to  those  of  Germany 
and  Turkey.  Germany's  splendid  dream  of  an  Eastern 
Empire  demands  the  control  of  the  route  from  Berlin, 
through  Constantinople  to  Basra.  With  the  develop- 
ment of  the  wheat-fields  in  the  Black  Sea  region  it  is  a 
vital  necessity  for  Russia  to  control  Constantinople 
and  the  Bosphorus.  I  asked  Professor  Rohrbach,  who 
is  the  great  authority  on  matters  involving  Russia  and 
Germany,  how  it  would  be  possible  to  safeguard 
Russia's  interests  with  Germany  in  control  of  the 
Bosphorus.  He  replied  very  clearly  that  the  interests 
of  Germany  and  Russia  were  so  opposed  to  each  other 
that  it  was  impossible  to  meet  the  needs  of  both,  and 
that  inasmuch  as  German  civilization  was  superior  to 
Russian  civilization  Russia's  interests  must  be  sacri- 
ficed, rather  than  Germany's. 

In  his  book  on  "The  Bagdad  Railway"   (Berlin, 

18 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

1911),  Professor  Rohrbach  summarized  its  military 
and  political  possibilities  as  follows :  — 

A  direct  attack  upon  England  across  the  North  Sea  is 
out  of  the  question;  the  prospect  of  a  German  invasion  of 
England  is  a  fantastic  dream.  It  is  necessary  to  discover 
another  combination  in  order  to  hit  England  in  a  vulnerable 
spot  —  and  here  we  come  to  the  point  where  the  relationship  of 
Germany  to  Turkey,  and  the  conditions  prevailing  in  Turkey, 
become  of  decisive  importance  for  German  foreign  policy,  based 
as  it  now  is  upon  watchfulness  in  the  direction  of  England.  .  .  . 
England  can  be  attacked  and  mortally  wounded  by  land 
from  Europe  only  in  one  place,  —  Egypt.  The  loss  of  Egypt 
would  mean  for  England  not  only  the  end  of  her  dominion 
over  the  Suez  Canal  and  of  her  connections  with  India  and 
the  Far  East,  but  would  probably  entail  the  loss  also  of  her 
possessions  in  Central  and  East  Africa.  The  conquest  of 
Egypt  by  a  Mohammedan  power  like  Turkey  would  also 
imperil  England's  hold  over  her  sixty  million  Mohammedan 
subjects  in  India,  besides  prejudicing  her  relations  with 
Afghanistan  and  Persia.  Turkey,  however,  can  never  dream 
of  recovering  Egypt  until  she  is  mistress  of  a  developed 
railway  system  in  Asia  Minor  and  Syria,  and  until,  through 
the  progress  of  the  Anatolian  Railway  to  Bagdad,  she  is  in 
a  position  to  withstand  an  attack  by  England  upon  Meso- 
potamia. .  .  .  The  stronger  Turkey  grows,  the  more  danger- 
ous does  she  become  for  England.  .  .  .  Egypt  is  a  prize 
which  for  Turkey  would  be  well  worth  the  risk  of  taking 
sides  with  Germany  in  a  war  with  England.  The  policy  of 
protecting  Turkey,  which  is  now  pursued  by  Germany,  has  no 
other  object  but  the  desire  to  effect  an  insurance  against  the 
danger  of  a  war  with  England. 

Now,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  breaks,  which 
will  soon  be  finished,  there  is  a  direct  connection  from 
Berlin,  through  Constantinople,  by  rail,  almost  to  the 
Suez  Canal  and  to  Bagdad. 

In  his  new  edition  of  "Imperial  Germany"  Prince 

19 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

von  Biilow,  ex-Chancellor   of   the   German  Empire, 
says:  — 

The  Bagdad  Railway  scheme  was  a  result  of  the  Emperor's 
journey  to  Palestine  in  1898,  a  very  few  months  after  the 
first  Navy  Bill  was  passed,  and  this  was  in  every  respect 
successful.  It  threw  open  to  German  influence  and  German 
enterprise  a  field  of  activity  between  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
and  the  Persian  Gulf,  on  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris, 
and  along  their  banks,  which  can  hardly  be  surpassed  for 
fertility  and  for  its  great  possibilities  of  development  in  the 
future.  The  Bagdad  Railway  has  already  proved  to  be  of 
military  value,  for  it  enabled  Turkey  to  send  reinforcements 
to  Mesopotamia  in  time  to  stop  the  English  on  their  march 
to  Bagdad,  and  to  inflict  sensible  defeats  upon  them.  After 
eighteen  months,  the  English  have  not  yet  succeeded  in 
entering  Bagdad.  "Ce  ne  sont  pas  seulement  les  forces 
turques  operant  en  Mesopotamie  qui  se  ravitaillent  par  cette 
voie,"  was  the  plaint  of  the  "  Temps"  after  the  first  English 
reverse  at  Kut-el-Amara;  "mais  toute  action  turco-alle- 
mande  en  Perse  repose  sur  cette  communication,  qui  relie 
Constantinople  a  Ispahan."  The  Bagdad  Railway  also 
restores  the  route  by  which  trade  from  Europe  to  India  and 
from  India  to  Europe  once  passed.  By  means  of  a  rational 
irrigation  of  the  districts  through  which  it  passes,  this  terri- 
tory can  once  more  be  made  the  paradise  it  was  in  ancient 
times.  If  one  can  speak  of  boundless  prospects  anywhere, 
it  is  in  Mesopotamia,  not  only  on  account  of  the  Mesopo- 
tamian  oil-fields,  which  for  the  most  part  lie  near  the 
Bagdad  Railway,  but  in  every  respect. 

One  of  the  most  curious  things  about  German  liter- 
ature of  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  is  the  frank  revela- 
tion of  policies  calculated  to  alarm  other  nations.  Thus 
several  military  writers  of  high  authority  mentioned 
the  plan  of  invading  France  by  way  of  Belgium.  I 
quote  a  very  suggestive  statement  by  Count  Revent- 

20 


ASIATIC  TURKEY 

low,  who  in  "  Deutschlands  AuswSrtige  Politik"  (3d 
edition,  p.  340)  says:  — 

It  had  an  unfavorable  effect,  and  created  difficulties,  that 
in  Germany  itself  the  object  and  the  importance  of  the 
Bagdad  Railway  was  proclaimed  to  the  world  to  some  extent 
in  an  incorrect  and  a  very  exaggerated  manner.  As  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  new  century  people  talked  openly, 
with  a  triumph  which  far  anticipated  events,  of  the  railway 
which  would  threaten  India  and  render  possible  a  Turkish 
invasion  of  Egypt.  A  German  war  station  would  arise  on 
the  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  superfluous  German  population 
would  be  settled  in  Mesopotamia.  In  this  direction  we 
have  made  great  mistakes  through  ill-advised  methods  of 
propaganda.  The  more  quietly  the  Bagdad  Railway  was 
built  the  better.  It  was  certainly  true  that  it  would  be 
possible,  after  the  network  of  railways  had  been  completed, 
to  make  of  Turkey  a  dangerous  menace  against  Egypt  and 
India;  but  that  sort  of  thing  ought  not  to  have  been  said  so 
long  as  Great  Britain  still  was  in  a  position  to  hinder  and  to 
delay  the  building  of  the  railway. 

Just  as  the  enormous  physical  resources  of  the 
United  States  plus  the  inventions  of  the  nineteenth 
century  rendered  possible  such  hitherto  unimagined 
corporations  as  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation,  and  further  rendered 
it  possible  for  a  comparatively  small  group  of  men  to 
dominate  the  world  of  finance  and  industry,  so  these 
same  inventions  plus  the  enormous  natural  resources 
of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere  bring  within  the  sphere  of 
practical  politics  colossal  combinations  of  nations  un- 
dreamed of  fifty  years  ago.  The  German  dream  of 
world-dominance  would  be  largely  realized  by  an  alli- 
ance of  the  powers  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Persian 
Gulf  (including  also  Salonika).     Germany  leads  the 

21 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

world  in  agriculture.  East  of  Austria  agriculture  is 
primitive.  Therefore,  in  land  cultivation,  as  well  as  in 
the  application  of  modern  science  and  methods  to 
other  natural  resources,  there  are  the  greatest  imagin- 
able possibilities  for  development.  As  the  world  existed 
in  1914  there  was  nothing  impossible  in  this  dream  of 
world-dominion . 

Germany's  Turkish  policy  during  the  last  ten  years 
before  the  war  had  changed  the  face  of  European  diplo- 
macy.  I  will  study  this  matter  in  my  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 

TURKEY  AND  ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS   FROM 
THE   BOER   WAR   TO    THE   EUROPEAN   WAR 

1899-1914 

The  years  from  1899  to  1914  witnessed  a  greater  revo- 
lution in  the  diplomatic  relations  of  the  great  powers 
of  Europe  than  any  other  period  in  modern  history. 
The  main  causes  of  this  change  were  the  interests  of 
England,  Germany,  and  Russia  in  Asiatic  Turkey. 

At  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century  the  rela- 
tions between  England  and  France  and  England  and 
Russia  were  unsettled  and  troublous.  The  relations 
between  England  and  Germany  during  the  nineteenth 
century  were  mainly  friendly.  Up  to  1914  it  was  true 
that  England  and  Germany  were  probably  the  only 
two  great  European  powers  who  had  never  shed  a  drop 
of  each  other's  blood. 

Joseph  Chamberlain  in  a  public  speech  had  suggested 
an  alliance  between  England,  the  United  States,  and 
Germany.  In  an  address  in  the  Guildhall  in  1899, 
Lord  Salisbury  said :  — 

This  morning  you  have  learned  of  the  arrangement  con- 
cluded between  us  and  one  of  the  Continental  States,  with 
whom  more  than  with  others  we  have  for  years  maintained 
sympathetic  and  friendly  relations.  The  arrangement  is 
above  all  interesting  as  an  indication  that  our  relations  with 
the  German  nation  are  all  that  we  could  desire. 

In  1898  England  and  France  were  on  the  verge  of 
war  over  the  Fashoda  affair.   In  that  year,  after  four- 

23 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

teen  years  of  preparation,  Kitchener  had  reconquered 
the  Soudan  which  had  been  overrun  and  devastated 
by  the  Mahdi.  When  he  reached  Fashoda,  on  the 
Upper  Nile,  he  found  Lieutenant  Marchand  with  a 
French  expedition  in  possession.  If  France  had  con- 
firmed her  conquest  of  the  Upper  Nile,  it  would  have 
been  a  serious  disaster  to  England's  African  enterprise. 
This  caused  a  dangerous  crisis  that  brought  France 
and  England  to  the  verge  of  war. 

France  was  very  bitter  after  diplomacy  had  decided 
in  Great  Britain's  favor,  and  during  the  Boer  War 
(which  began  October,  1899)  there  was  in  France  a 
press  campaign  directed  against  Great  Britain  as  bitter 
as  any  in  the  belligerent  press  of  to-day.  The  press  in 
Germany  was  almost  as  bitter  as  the  French  press. 
England  was  amazed  and  appalled  at  the  hostility 
of  public  opinion  expressed  by  the  newspapers  in 
nearly  all  countries,  including  the  United  States. 

As  one  result  of  the  situation  produced  by  the  Boer 
War,  England  made  an  alliance  with  Japan,  January 
30,  1902.  This  was  to  safeguard  her  imperial  interests 
in  the  East. 

The  South  African  problems  were  settled  in  such  a 
fashion  as  to  make  the  Union  of  South  Africa  one  of 
the  most  loyal  of  the  self-governing  nations  of  the 
British  Empire. 

In  1904  England  and  France  composed  their  differ- 
ences,—  largely  colonial.  The  main  provisions  of  this 
treaty  of  April  30, 1904,  dealt  with  Egypt  and  Morocco. 
France  withdrew  her  opposition  to  England's  occupa- 
tion of  Egypt,  and  England  withdrew  her  opposing 
claims  to  Morocco. 

But  while  this  treaty  led  to  a  friendship  that  was 

24 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,    1899-1914 

almost  an  alliance  between  England  and  France,  it 
caused  great  hostility  between  England  and  Germany. 
Count  Reventlow,  in  his  last  book,  "The  Vampire 
of  the  Continent,"  gives  Germany's  feeling  in  these 
words :  — 

The  understanding  between  France  and  England  was  an 
event  of  the  highest  importance  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  convention  of  1904  put  an  end,  once  and  for  all,  to  all 
the  colonial  quarrels  between  England  and  France.  The 
work  of  liquidation,  begun  in  1899,  was  finished  five  years 
later.  Bismarck  had  understood,  by  a  skillful  handling  of 
African  colonial  problems,  how  to  prevent  a  rapprochement 
between  the  two  Western  Powers;  especially  had  he  under- 
stood the  art  of  keeping  the  Egyptian  question  —  that  chief 
bone  of  contention  —  alive.  Fourteen  years  after  Bismarck's 
departure,  the  last  seeds  of  dissension  sowed  by  this  policy 
of  his  were  dug  up  and  destroyed. 

I  will  now  trace  another  cause  of  the  divergence  of 
English  and  German  interests. 

"Germany's  Asiatic  dream 

Bismarck's  mind  was  filled  with  his  life-work.  He 
had  organized  the  German  Empire;  he  had  nationalized 
the  railways.  Besides  taking  from  France  territory 
which  quadrupled  the  iron-ore  production  of  Germany, 
he  had  taken  one  billion  dollars  in  cash.  He  had  little 
interest  in  the  Balkans  or  the  East.  His  great  achieve- 
ment had  exhausted  or  fulfilled  his  passion  for  aggran- 
dizement. 

The  present  Emperor  brought  a  fresh  and  vigorous 
mind  to  Germany's  needs  and  growth.  Within  a  year 
and  a  half  of  his  accession  to  the  Imperial  throne,  he 
paid  his  first  visit  to  a  European  capital  and  to  a 

25 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

European  sovereign.  The  capital  was  Constantinople; 
the  sovereign  was  Abdul  Hamid. 

Nine  years  later,  in  1898,  the  German  Emperor 
made  his  second  visit  to  Constantinople,  a  voyage 
which  included  Palestine  and  visits  to  Jerusalem  and 
Damascus.  One  result  of  these  visits  was  the  securing 
of  concessions  that  led  to  the  Bagdad  Railway. 

The  German  Emperor  had  the  vision  of  Alexander 
and  Napoleon.  He  was  to  found  a  great  empire  in  the 
East.  Marschall  von  Bieberstein,  the  ablest  diplomat 
not  only  of  Germany  but  of  Europe,  represented  Ger- 
many in  Turkey.  Germany  became  the  dominating 
European  power  in  Turkey.  The  foundations  for  a 
great  Eastern  Empire  were  well  and  successfully  laid 
by  Germany. 

England's  treaty  with  France  aroused  Germany, 
who  saw  her  interests  in  Morocco  menaced  and  above 
all  her  prestige  in  the  Mohammedan  world.  This  led 
to  the  German  Emperor's  voyage  to  Tangier  in  1905. 
The  effect  of  Russia's  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Japan  was 
now  felt  in  the  west  of  Europe.  France's  great  Eastern 
ally  was  out  of  the  ring  indefinitely. 

The  importance  of  the  Emperor's  voyage  in  relation 
to  Asiatic  Turkey  is  clearly  explained  by  Prince  von 
Biilow,  as  follows :  — 

In  November,  1898,  the  Emperor  William  II  had  said  in 
Damascus:  "  The  three  hundred  million  Mohammedans  who 
live  scattered  over  the  globe  may  be  assured  of  this,  that  the 
German  Emperor  will  be  their  friend  at  all  times."  In 
Tangier  the  Emperor  had  declared  emphatically  in  favor 
of  the  integrity  of  Morocco.  We  should  have  completely 
destroyed  our  credit  in  the  Mohammedan  world,  if  so  soon 
after  these  declarations  we  had  sold  Morocco  to  the  French. 
Our  Ambassador  in  Constantinople,  Freiherr  von  Marschall, 

26 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

said  to  me  at  the  time:  "If  we  sacrifice  Morocco  in  spite  of 
Damascus  and  Tangier,  we  shall  at  one  fell  swoop  lose  our 
position  in  Turkey  and  therefore  all  advantages  and  pros- 
pects that  we  have  painfully  acquired  by  the  labor  of  many 
years." 

As  I  have  shown,  the  advantages  and  prospects  in 
Asiatic  Turkey  were  regarded  as  utterly  vital  to  Ger- 
many. 

Germany  had  dreams  also  of  a  great  African  Empire, 
but  her  chief  preoccupation  was  Asiatic  Turkey,  and 
the  voyage  of  Emperor  Wilhelm  II  to  Morocco,  which 
to  many  seemed  spectacular,  was,  as  Von  Biilow  ex- 
plains, largely  in  behalf  of  Germany's  Asiatic  projects. 

The  result  of  this  voyage  to  Morocco  was  the  Alge- 
ciras  Conference  of  1906,  the  outcome  of  which  is  de- 
scribed somewhat  bitterly  by  Count  Reventlow  in  his 
new  book,  "The  Vampire  of  the  Continent":  — 

All  the  demands  of  the  German  representatives  at  the 
Algeciras  Conference  were  rejected,  and  not  a  single  Power 
was  to  be  found  to  back  up  Germany  energetically.  Ger- 
many's isolation  was  so  complete  that  she  was  thankful  to 
Austria-Hungary  when  the  latter's  representatives  declared 
themselves  ready,  in  one  particularly  knotty  question,  to 
build  a  bridge  over  which  the  Germans  could  effect  an  honor- 
able retreat.  The  Algeciras  Act,  a  very  voluminous  docu- 
ment, was  from  beginning  to  end  a  complete  farce. 

The  Italians  were  also  to  be  found  at  Algeciras  among 
Germany's  adversaries;  the  same  was  the  case  with  nearly 
all  the  smaller  European  States,  and  with  the  United  States 
of  America.  This  was  a  phenomenon,  the  importance  of 
which  completely  overshadowed  that  of  the  Moroccan  ques- 
tion taken  by  itself.  With  extraordinary  skill,  rapidity,  and 
energy,  England's  statesmen  had  understood  how  suddenly 
to  represent  the  German  Empire  as  the  disturber  of  Euro- 
pean peace,  as  a  danger  to  France,  and  as  jealous  of  Great 
Britain. 

27 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Professor  Seymour  summarizes  the  results  of  the 
Algeciras  Conference  in  these  words :  — 

On  none  of  the  crucial  issues  discussed  during  the  Confer- 
ence of  Algeciras  did  Germany  receive  the  support  of  the 
other  Powers.  .  .  . 

And  by  a  curious  irony,  Germany  in  demanding  the  Con- 
ference of  Algeciras  had  brought  English  and  Russian  repre- 
sentatives together  upon  a  common  ground,  and  thus  paved 
the  way  for  the  Anglo-Russian  accord. 

This  leads  us  to  the  Anglo-Russian  treaty  of  1907. 

In  a  sense  Russia  touches  the  interests  of  nearly  all 
nations  in  Europe  and  Asia.  Russia  impends  over 
Sweden,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  the  Balkans, 
Constantinople  and  the  Bosphorus,  Asia  Minor,  and 
the  Persian  Gulf,  Afghanistan,  Persia,  India,  China, 
and  Japan.  England's  foreign  policy  for  a  century  has 
been  largely  determined  by  India.  And  she  feared 
Russian  aggression  against  India. 

On  August  31,  1907,  a  treaty  between  England  and 
Russia  was  signed  which  removed  their  rivalries  in 
regard  to  the  long-pending  question  involving  their 
mutual  interests  in  Afghanistan,  Persia,  Thibet,  and 
brought  about  an  entente. 

The  Bosnian  Crisis  of  1908 

We  now  come  to  the  so-called  Bosnian  crisis  of 
1908. 

By  the  famous  Treaty  of  Berlin  of  1878,  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  while  remaining  provinces  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  were  occupied  and  administered  by  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  change  in  the  Balkans  by  the  success 
of  the  Young  Turks  is  thus  described  by  Professor 
Seymour :  — 

28 


ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

In  1908  came  the  Young  Turk  Revolution,  which  led  Aus- 
tria to  a  fateful  step.  The  Young  Turks  aimed  above  every- 
thing at  a  regeneration  of  their  country's  foreign  policy  and 
especially  at  a  strengthening  of  Turkish  power  in  the  Bal- 
kans. Austria  and  Germany  favored  a  strong  government  at 
Constantinople,  since  Turkey  was  guarding  the  Dardanelles 
in  their  interests.  But  a  Turkey  predominant  in  the  whole 
Balkan  Peninsula  was  undesirable,  for  it  would  threaten 
Austria's  road  to  the  Adriatic  and  yEgean.  Furthermore, 
it  seemed  likely  that  the  Young  Turks  would  not  hesitate 
to  demand  the  termination  of  Austrian  administration  in 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina;  the  provinces  legally  belonged  to 
Turkey,  and  if  the  new  Government  should  prove  its  capac- 
ity, the  Porte  would  have  every  right  again  to  assume 
direct  administration  over  them. 

Austria-Hungary  annexed  the  two  provinces.  This 
interfered  with  the  ambitions  of  Servia;  it  also  strength- 
ened the  influence  of  Germany  and  Austria  in  the  Bal- 
kans, and  to  that  extent  interfered  with  the  influence 
of  Russia  in  the  Balkans.  Whichever  group  of  nations 
controls  the  Balkans  has  the  dominance  in  Turkey. 

Further,  it  was  a  direct  breach  of  a  treaty  made  by 
all  Europe.  The  effect  of  this  treaty  violation  was  far- 
reaching.  Russia  protested  vigorously,  but  not  yet 
having  recovered  from  the  military  disasters  of  her 
war  with  Japan,  she  could  not  enforce  her  demands, 
although  strongly  supported  by  France  and  England. 
This  was  the  first  conflict  between  the  Triple  Alliance 
and  the  Triple  Entente.  Germany's  position  is  clearly 
told  by  Prince  von  Biilow  in  his  book,  "Imperial 
Germany  " :  — 

The  final  annexation  by  Austria-Hungary  of  the  Provinces 
of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  which,  in  accordance  with  the 
decisions  of  the  Berlin  Congress,  Austria  had  occupied  since 
1878,  led  to  a  great  European  crisis.  .  .  . 

29 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

In  my  speeches  in  the  Reichstag  I  made  it  quite  clear  that 
Germany  was  resolved  to  preserve  her  alliance  with  Austria 
at  any  cost.  The  German  sword  had  been  thrown  into  the 
scale  of  European  decision,  directly  in  support  of  our  Austro- 
Hungarian  ally,  indirectly  for  the  preservation  of  European 
peace,  and  above  all  for  the  sake  of  German  credit  and  the 
maintenance  of  our  position  in  the  world. 

Lord  Redesdale,  in  his  recently  published  memoirs, 
speaks  of  the  effect  on  King  Edward.  Lord  Redesdale 
happened  to  be  at  Balmoral  when  the  news  of  the 
Austrian  annexations  in  the  Balkans  reached  the  King. 
"No  one  who  was  there  can  forget,"  he  said,  "how  ter- 
ribly he  was  upset.  Never  did  I  see  him  so  moved.  .  .  . 
Every  word  that  he  uttered  that  day  has  come  true." 

There  is  a  great  similarity  between  the  Bosnian 
crisis  of  1908  and  the  Servian  crisis  of  1914  which 
caused  the  war.  It  seems  to  me  that  Austria-Hungary 
expected  the  crisis  of  1914  to  take  the  course  of  the 
Bosnian  crisis  of  1908. 

E.  J.  Dillon,  chief  correspondent  of  the  London 
"Telegraph,"  tells  of  the  views  of  San  Giuliano,  For- 
eign Minister  of  Italy  in  the  Servian  crisis  in  1914:  — 

He  virtually  said  to  his  two  foreign  colleagues:  "Your 
policy  takes  account  of  two  alternatives  and  does  not  cover 
the  whole  ground  of  eventualities.  You  fancy  that  you  may 
succeed  in  imposing  your  will  on  Servia  to-day  as  you  did 
during  the  Bosnian  crisis,  and  that  if  you  fail  in  this  the  worst 
that  can  happen  is  that  Russia  will  take  Servia's  part  and 
you  will  have  only  those  to  deal  with.  In  the  former  case 
you  will  have  exalted  your  horn  greatly  and  won  a  brilliant 
diplomatic  success;  in  the  latter  you  will  gather  military 
laurels  with  ease  and  certainty.  Pray  let  me  assure  you  that 
you  are  making  a  miscalculation.  Your  reading  of  the  inter- 
national situation,  which  has  changed  fundamentally  during 
these  few  years,  is  erroneous.    The  Entente  Powers  are  no 

30 


ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

longer  in  the  mood  to  brook  arbitrary  acts  and  they  will 
oppose  you  resolutely.  Russia  will  certainly  take  Servia's 
part,  and,  what  is  more  to  the  point,  France  will  stand  by 
Russia.  And  if  France  is  involved  in  the  war  Britain  will  not 
leave  her  in  the  lurch." 

In  1909,  King  Edward  VII  visited  Berlin.  I  can 
give  no  higher  authority  as  to  the  German  idea  of  this 
visit,  its  purposes  and  effects,  than  by  quoting  the 
words  of  Prince  von  Biilow,  then  German  Chancellor. 
He  said :  — 

In  the  winter  of  1909,  immediately  after  the  Bosnian 
crisis  had  taken  a  decisive  turn,  King  Edward  VII  paid  a 
visit  to  the  German  Emperor  and  Empress  in  Berlin.  This 
visit  passed  off  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  and  the  King  had  a 
hearty  reception.  He,  for  his  part,  succeeded  in  emphasizing 
the  favorable  impression  made  by  his  visit,  by  repeatedly 
giving  expression  to  his  sincere  love  of  peace  and  his  warm 
friendship,  sentiments  which  found  corroboration  soon  after 
in  the  Speech  from  the  Throne  and  the  Debate  on  the 
Address  in  the  English  Parliament.  This  last  visit  of  King 
Edward  VII  aroused  good  hope  for  the  future  and  shed  a 
pleasant  light,  not  only  on  the  personal  relations  of  the  King 
with  Germany,  but  also  on  those  between  two  great  nations 
who  have  every  reason  to  respect  one  another,  and  to  vie 
with  each  other  amicably  in  the  work  of  peace.  Reactions 
might,  of  course,  set  in.  In  point  of  fact  they  did.  Indeed, 
the  reaction  in  the  summer  of  1911  was  somewhat  violent. 
But  the  attempt  to  extend  the  opposition  between  England 
and  Germany  into  a  system  of  combined  international  pol- 
icy, will  hardly  be  repeated,  and,  if  it  should  be,  it  will  once 
more  be  foiled  by  the  hard  facts  of  Continental  politics,  of 
which  the  very  hardest  is  the  Triple  Alliance. 

Prince  von  Biilow  refers  to  the  Agadir  incident  of 
1911  when  the  Panther,  a  small  gunboat,  suddenly  ap- 
peared on  the  west  coast  of  Morocco,  at  the  port  of 

31 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Agadir.  This  reopened  the  Morocco  question.  Eng- 
land at  this  time  strongly  supported  France,  and 
Lloyd  George,  in  a  speech  at  the  Mansion  House, 
warned  Germany  that  in  this  matter  she  must  reckon 
with  England.  The  Morocco  question  was  settled. 
Germany  and  France  each  made  concessions.  But 
certain  bitternesses  were  aroused  in  Germany. 

The  Haldane  Mission  of  1912 

Still  an  effort  was  made  to  heal  the  breach  between 
England  and  Germany. 

In  my  interview  with  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  in 
Berlin,  April,  1916,  he  spoke  with  considerable  fullness 
of  Lord  Haldane's  visit  and  the  effort  to  make  a  lasting 
agreement  between  Germany  and  England.  And  in 
August,  1916,  I  had  a  long  interview  with  Lord  Hal- 
dane on  the  same  subject.  This  was  the  most  important 
attempt  up  to  that  time  to  secure  permanently  friendly 
relations  between  the  two  countries.  In  a  recently 
published  book  on  Lord  Haldane,  a  chapter  is  devoted 
to  his  visit  to  Berlin. 

The  author  informs  us  that  Lord  Haldane  has  read 
the  proofs  of  this  particular  chapter  and  has  com- 
mented upon  it  thus:  "In  no  point  is  it  inaccurate." 
As  the  narrative  is  in  many  details  new  and  is  given  to 
the  world  on  the  highest  authority  I  shall  quote  it  at 
some  length :  — 

After  the  Agadir  incident  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  strong 
speech  at  the  Mansion  House,  the  Kaiser  sent  a  private 
message  to  one  of  our  ministers  —  not  Lord  Haldane  —  by 
a  personal  friend  in  England,  suggesting  that  the  two  Cabi- 
nets should  confer. 

Instead  of  using  the  ordinary  means  of  diplomatic  com- 

32 


ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

munication,  which  might  have  deepened  the  Kaiser's  suspi- 
cions and  appeared  in  the  nature  of  a  rebuff,  the  Government 
most  wisely  decided  to  send  a  minister  who  spoke  the  Ger- 
man language  very  perfectly,  who  was  perfectly  acquainted 
with  the  Kaiser  and  his  chief  ministers,  and  who  was  also 
well  informed  as  to  the  working  of  the  British  Foreign  Office. 
Lord  Haldane  was  chosen  for  this  most  difficult  mission, 
and  after  Sir  Edward  Goschen,  the  British  Ambassador  in 
Berlin,  had  come  over  here  to  discuss  matters,  Lord  Haldane, 
ostensibly  as  a  private  citizen  interested  in  education,  set 
out  for  Germany. 

Lord  Haldane  arrived  in  Berlin  on  February  8, 1912.  That 
same  morning  he  had  a  private  conversation  at  the  British 
Embassy  with  the  German  Chancellor.  On  the  next  day  he 
saw  the  German  Emperor  and  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  together. 
And  on  the  third  day  he  saw  the  Chancellor  again. 

The  purpose  of  this  embassy,  as  we  know  now,  was  to 
ascertain  why  good  relations  between  the  two  countries  had 
become  overclouded,  and  to  assure  the  German  Government 
that  the  British  policy  of  good-will  which  had  characterized 
King  Edward's  reign  still  persisted. 

It  is  understood  that  in  his  opening  conversation  with  the 
Chancellor,  Lord  Haldane  established  a  most  friendly  confi- 
dence, Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  declaring  with  absolute 
truth  that  for  two  and  a  half  years  the  aim  of  his  policy  had 
been  to  come  to  some  agreement  with  England. 

Lord  Haldane  made  it  perfectly  plain  to  the  Chancellor 
that  the  Triple  Alliance  had  given  Germany  tremendous 
strength,  and  that  any  increase  in  her  fighting  forces  was  a 
very  serious  matter  for  other  powers.  So  far  as  we  know, 
Lord  Haldane  did  not  question  Germany's  right  to  increase 
her  armaments,  but  it  is  known  that  he  asked  the  Chancellor 
to  consider  whether  an  increase  in  the  German  navy,  which 
must  unquestionably  be  met  by  a  double  increase  in  the 
British  navy,  could  facilitate  friendly  relations.  The  whole 
course  of  his  negotiations  turned  on  that  point.  The  Chan- 
cellor made  a  tentative  proposal  on  the  subject,  a  proposal 
to  see  how  far  he  could  go  in  making  an  offer  to  spread  Ger- 
man shipbuilding  over  a  number  of  years;  in  the  mean  time 

33 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

he  referred  to  a  particular  proposal  on  the  question  of 
British  and  German  action  in  the  event  of  war  which  he  had 
already  made  to  the  British  Government. 

This  proposal,  we  now  know,  was  a  formula  of  absolute 
neutrality,  which  bound  both  parties  not  to  enter  into  any 
combination  against  each  other.  Lord  Haldane  pointed  out 
the  obvious  objections  to  the  wording  of  this  formula,  and 
suggested  the  British  Government's  alternative  of  mutual 
undertakings  against  all  combinations,  military  and  naval 
agreements,  and  plans  directed  to  the  purpose  of  aggression 
and  unprovoked  attack.  The  Chancellor  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  extent  of  this  counter-proposal. 

Lord  Haldane's  conversations  took  place  on  the  basis  that 
his  first  duty  as  representing  the  Government  here  was  to 
make  it  plain  that  he  could  only  speak  on  the  footing  that 
absolute  loyalty  to  the  ententes  with  France  and  Russia  must 
be  the  condition  of  any  further  progress  toward  an  under- 
standing with  the  German  Government.  He  went  on  to  say 
that  we  could  not  be  reckoned  on  as  neutrals  if  France  were 
attacked  or  if  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  were  violated.  He 
also  insisted  that  if  Germany  entered  on  a  policy  of  increas- 
ing her  naval  development  we  should  lay  down  two  keels  to 
every  one  she  laid  down. 

When  shortly  afterwards  she  proceeded  to  introduce  a 
new  Fleet  Law,  this  course  was  at  once  adopted,  as  a  refer- 
ence to  the  British  Naval  Estimates,  which  were  increased 
from  thirty-six  millions  to  fifty-one,  and  as  the  discussions 
in  Parliament  show. 

The  most  authoritative  statement  as  to  Lord  Hal- 
dane's mission  is  the  one  issued  September  1,  1915, 
by  the  British  Foreign  Office,  from  which  I  quote  as 
follows:  — 

Early  in  1912  the  German  Chancellor  sketched  to  Lord 
Haldane  the  following  formula  as  one  which  would  meet  the 
views  of  the  Imperial  Government :  — 

1.  The  high  contracting  parties  assure  each  other  mutu- 
ally of  their  desire  of  peace  and  friendship. 

34 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

2.  They  will  not  either  of  them  make  or  prepare  to  make 
any  (unprovoked)  attack  upon  the  other,  or  join  in  any 
combination  or  design  against  the  other  for  purposes  of 
aggression,  or  become  party  to  any  plan  or  naval  or  military 
enterprise  alone  or  in  combination  with  any  other  power 
directed  to  such  an  end,  and  declare  not  to  be  bound  by  any 
such  engagement. 

3.  If  either  of  the  high  contracting  parties  becomes  entan- 
gled in  a  war  with  one  or  more  powers  in  which  it  cannot  be 
said  to  be  the  aggressor,  the  other  party  will  at  least  observe 
toward  the  power  so  entangled  a  benevolent  neutrality,  and 
will  use  its  utmost  endeavor  for  the  localization  of  the  con- 
flict. If  either  of  the  high  contracting  parties  is  forced  to  go 
to  war  by  obvious  provocation  from  a  third  party,  they  bind 
themselves  to  enter  into  an  exchange  of  views  concerning 
their  attitude  in  such  a  conflict. 

4.  The  duty  of  neutrality  which  rises  out  of  the  preceding 
article  has  no  application  in  so  far  as  it  may  not  be  reconcil- 
able with  existing  agreements  which  the  high  contracting 
parties  have  already  made. 

5.  The  making  of  new  agreements  which  render  it  impos- 
sible for  either  of  the  parties  to  observe  neutrality  toward 
the  other  beyond  what  is  provided  by  the  preceding  limita- 
tion is  excluded  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  in  article  2. 

6.  The  high  contracting  parties  declare  that  they  will  do 
all  in  their  power  to  prevent  differences  and  misunderstand- 
ings arising  between  either  of  them  and  other  powers. 

These  conditions,  although  in  appearance  fair  as  between 
the  parties,  would  have  been  grossly  unfair  and  one-sided  in 
their  operation.  Owing  to  the  general  position  of  the  Euro- 
pean powers,  and  the  treaty  engagements  by  which  they 
were  bound,  the  result  of  articles  4  and  5  would  have  been 
that,  while  Germany  in  the  case  of  a  European  conflict 
would  have  remained  free  to  support  her  friends,  England 
would  have  been  forbidden  to  raise  a  finger  in  defense  of 
hers. 

Germany  could  arrange  without  difficulty  that  the  formal 
inception  of  hostilities  should  rest  with  Austria.  If  Austria 
and  Russia  were  at  war,  Germany  would  support  Austria, 

35 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

as  is  evident  from  what  occurred  at  the  end  of  July,  1914; 
while  as  soon  as  Russia  was  attacked  by  two  powers,  France 
was  bound  to  come  to  her  assistance.  In  other  words,  the 
pledge  of  neutrality  offered  by  Germany  would  have  been 
absolutely  valueless,  because  she  could  always  plead  the 
necessity  of  fulfilling  her  existing  obligations  under  the 
Triple  Alliance,  as  an  excuse  for  departing  from  neutrality. 
On  the  other  hand,  no  such  departure,  however  serious  the 
provocation,  would  have  been  possible  for  England,  which 
was  bound  by  no  alliances  with  the  exception  of  those  with 
Japan  and  Portugal,  while  the  making  of  fresh  alliances  was 
prohibited  by  article  5.  In  a  word,  as  appeared  still  more 
evident  later,  there  was  to  be  a  guarantee  of  absolute  neu- 
trality on  one  side,  but  not  on  the  other. 

It  was  impossible  for  us  to  enter  into  a  contract  so  obvi- 
ously inequitable,  and  the  formula  was  accordingly  rejected 
by  Sir  E.  Grey. 

I  quote  so  fully  because  the  negotiation  was  a 
most  important  effort  on  the  part  of  two  peace-lov- 
ing statesmen,  Sir  Edward  Grey  and  Von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  to  come  to  an  agreement. 

A  very  clear  exposition  of  Germany's  views  is 
given  by  Von  Bernhardi  ("  Britain  as  Germany's  Vas- 
sal," by  Friedrich  von  Bernhardi,  pp.  152-55):  — 

England  would  have  to  give  Germany  an  absolutely  free 
hand  in  all  questions  touching  European  politics,  and  agree 
beforehand  to  any  increase  of  Germany's  power  on  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe  which  may  ensue  from  the  formation  of  a 
Central  European  Union  of  Powers,  or  from  a  German  war 
with  France.  England  would  have  to  agree  that  she  would 
no  longer  strive  to  prevent  by  her  diplomacy  the  expansion 
of  Germany's  colonial  empire  as  long  as  such  development 
would  not  take  place  at  England's  cost.  She  would  further 
have  to  agree  to  any  possible  change  of  the  map  of  North 
Africa  that  might  take  place  in  Germany's  or  Italy's  favor. 
England  would  further  have  to  bind  herself  that  she  would 

36 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

not  hinder  Austria's  expansion  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  She 
would  have  to  offer  no  opposition  to  Germany's  economic 
expansion  in  Asia  Minor,  and  she  would  have  to  make  up 
her  mind  that  she  would  no  longer  oppose  the  development 
of  Germany's  sea  power  by  the  acquisition  of  coaling- 
stations. 

As  the  concessions  enumerated  in  the  foregoing  would  in 
no  case  involve  a  material  sacrifice  on  England 's  part,  but 
would  only  mean  the  unconditional  acknowledgment  and 
benevolent  support  of  Germany's  natural  development, 
Germany,  on  her  part,  would  be  able  to  bind  herself  that 
she  would  give  equally  benevolent  and  energetic  support  in 
promoting  England's  interests. 

It  must  remain  an  open  question  whether  such  an  under- 
standing should  take  the  form  of  an  alliance.  By  its  nature 
it  would  be  equivalent  to  an  alliance,  and  on  the  basis  of 
such  an  understanding  England  and  Germany  could  peace- 
fully arrange  their  economic  interests  throughout  the  world. 
Such  an  agreement  would  create  an  irresistible  force,  which 
would  necessarily  promote  the  development  of  both  nations. 
It  would  create  a  civilizing  factor  which  would  advance 
human  progress.  It  would  go  a  longVay  to  banish  war,  and 
the  fear  of  war,  or  would  at  least  diminish  its  dangers.  If 
England  in  this  way  approaches  the  Triple  Alliance,  Euro- 
pean peace  would  be  assured,  and  a  powerful  counterpoise 
would  be  created  to  the  growing  influence  of  the  United 
States. 

T^he  effect  of  such  an  agreement  as  Germany  wanted 
can  easily  be  realized  by  studying  the  present  war. 

When  the  German  armies  intrenched  after  the  battle 
of  the  Marne,  France  had  lost  the  greater  part  of  her 
coal  and  iron.  Unless  she  could  import  coal,  iron  and 
steel,  France  could  not  maintain  her  industries  or 
manufacture  more  than  a  negligible  amount  of  ammu- 
nition. Without  England's  sea  power  France  would 
have  been  conquered  in  three  months. 

37 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  brief  glance  I  have  given  to  European  diplomacy 
during  the  nineteenth  century  shows  a  series  of  dis- 
agreements between  England  and  Germany,  with  fre- 
quent efforts  toward  friendly  relations. 

Speaking  of  England's  treaties  of  1904  with  France 
and  in  1907  with  Russia,  Sir  Edward  Grey  said  in  an 
interview  given  to  the  Chicago  "Daily  News," 
April  10,  1916,  in  answer  to  this  question:  — 

Should  you  mind  indicating  the  object  of  Britain's  rap- 
prochements in  recent  years? 

Good  relations  and  an  end  to  quarrels  with  other  powers. 
Going  far  back,  we  had  working  relations  with  the  Triple 
Alliance,  but  we  were  habitually  in  friction  with  France  or 
Russia.  Again  and  again  it  brought  us  to  the  verge  of  war, 
and  so  we  decided  to  come  to  an  arrangement  with  France 
and  then  with  Russia,  not  with  any  hostile  intent  toward 
Germany  or  any  other  power,  but  wholly  to  pave  the  way 
to  permanent  peace.  So,  instead  of  preparing  for  war,  as 
Germany  asserts  without  a  vestige  of  truth  to  support  the 
assertion,  we  were  endeavoring  to  avoid  war  and  not  to 
make  it. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  discuss  the  Balkan  wars. 
Following  Italy's  war  against  Turkey,  beginning 
September  27,  1911,  ending  with  the  Treaty  of 
Lausanne,  October  15,  1912,  a  union  of  the  Balkan 
States  was  formed  against  Turkey.  Montenegro 
opened  the  war,  October  8,  1912.  After  the  Balkan 
States  had  fought  a  victorious  war  with  Turkey,  they 
fought  among  themselves.  This  inter-Balkan  war  was 
settled  by  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest,  August  6,  1913. 

I  will  now  discuss  the  relations  of  England  and 
Germany  up  to  June,  1914. 

Although  the  Haldane  mission  had  failed,  the  rela- 
tions between  England  and  Germany  had  greatly  im- 

38 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

proved  during  the  Balkan  wars.  There  remained, 
however,  the  very  serious  question  of  the  Bagdad  Rail- 
way and  Asiatic  Turkey. 

Professor  Price,  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
England,  in  his  book  "The  Diplomatic  History  of  the 
War"  (Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1914),  makes  this 
statement:  — 

But  in  spite  of  the  failure  of  the  political  and  naval  nego- 
tiations, in  spite  of  the  Morocco  crisis  and  the  ever-increasing 
pressure  of  armaments,  Anglo-German  relations  sensibly  im- 
proved after  the  Balkan  crisis  of  1912,  when  the  two  coun- 
tries cooperated  for  the  settlement  of  the  Albanian  question. 
It  appeared,  in  fact,  about  this  time  that  a  change  in  Anglo- 
German  relations  was  about  to  take  place  on  account  of 
mutual  interests  in  the  Near  East.  Indeed,  an  Anglo- 
German  agreement  over  spheres  of  influence  in  Asia  Minor 
and  Mesopotamia  was  being  prepared  and  was  to  have  been 
signed  in  the  autumn  of  1914.  Such  an  agreement  would 
have  settled  all  outstanding  questions  between  the  two 
countries  in  the  East,  it  would  have  given  Germany  her 
place  in  the  sun,  and  might  have  laid  the  seed  of  an  under- 
standing in  Europe  which  would  have  included  Germany  in 
a  European  concert  and  put  an  end  to  the  system  of  power- 
balances. 

Just  what  is  meant  by  the  very  definite  statement  of 
Price?  He  must  have  had  very  definite  knowledge  to 
have  declared  in  terms  so  positive  that  the  crucial 
question  of  Asia  Minor  was  being  settled. 

Dr.  Paul  Rohrbach,  in  "Der  Krieg  und  die  deutsche 
Politik"  (p.  85),  says:  — 

Now  that  everything  has  been  changed,  it  may  be  safely 
said  [kann  man  ruhig  sagen]  that  the  negotiations  with  Eng- 
land about  the  delimitation  of  our  spheres  of  interest  in  the 
East  and  in  Africa  had  been  brought  to  a  close  and  signed 
[i.e.,  I  suppose,  initialed  by  the  negotiators],  and  that  the 

39 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

only  remaining  question  was  as  to  their  publication.  In 
Africa,  English  policy  had  gone  a  surprisingly  long  way  to 
meet  us.  In  Turkey,  not  only  had  large  concessions  been 
made  to  the  German  point  of  view  on  the  question  of  the 
Bagdad  Railway,  but  the  other  matters  connected  with  this, 
the  working  of  the  Mesopotamian  petroleum-fields  and  the 
navigation  of  the  Tigris,  which  England  had  hitherto  had 
in  her  sole  possession,  were  regulated  along  with  German 
participation. 

Now,  Dr.  Rohrbach  is  one  of  the  very  best-informed 
men  in  Germany  on  all  Eastern  questions. 

The  Anglo-German  Treaty  of  1914 

By  a  mere  chance  I  learned  the  terms  of  this  treaty, 
or  agreement,  which  was  initialed  by  the  negotiators 
representing  England  and  Germany  in  June,  1914,  and 
was  to  have  been  signed  in  the  autumn  of  1914.  On  my 
way  to  Constantinople  in  the  Balkanzug  I  was  intro- 
duced by  my  friend  and  traveling  companion,  Pro- 
fessor von  Schultze  Gavernitz,  to  Dr.  Jaeckh,  an 
expert  on  Turkish  affairs,  who  had  been  private  secre- 
tary to  Von  Kiderlen-Wachter.  He  had  helped  in  the 
preparation  of  the  treaty,  and  he  gave  me  its  terms. 
I  took  the  statement  he  gave  me  to  the  German  For- 
eign Office  in  Berlin.  Certain  slight  corrections  were 
made.  I  publish  herewith  the  document  exactly  as  I 
got  it  from  Dr.  Zimmermann,  now  the  Foreign  Min- 
ister of  the  Imperial  German  Government.  It  settled 
the  disputes  between  England  and  Germany,  just  as 
the  treaties  of  1904  and  1907  had  settled  the  long- 
standing and  war-provoking  disputes  between  Eng- 
land and  France  and  England  and  Russia. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  had  now  completed  his  series  of 
great  agreements,  and  the  German  Government  had 

40 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

demonstrated  its  pacific  character.  It  would  seem 
that  this  treaty  would  have  secured  the  peace  of 
Europe  for  generations. 

Terms  of  the  Anglo-German  Agreement  of  1914 

Anglo-German  agreement,  1914,  which  was  drafted  and 
already  initialed  by  the  members  of  the  conference.  It  would 
have  satisfied  Germany  for  decades  without  endangering 
the  British  Empire:  — 

1.  The  Bagdad  Railway  from  Constantinople  to  Basra  is 
definitely  left  to  German  capital  in  cooperation  with  Tur- 
key. In  the  territory  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  German  eco- 
nomical working  will  not  be  hindered  by  England. 

2.  Basra  becomes  a  sea  harbor  in  the  building  of  which 
German  capital  is  concerned  with  60  per  cent  and  English 
capital  with  40  per  cent.  For  the  navigation  from  Basra 
to  the  Persian  Gulf  the  independence  of  the  open  sea  is 
agreed  to. 

3.  Kuweit  is  excluded  from  the  agreement  between  Ger- 
many and  England. 

4.  In  the  navigation  of  the  Tigris,  English  capital  is  inter- 
ested with  50  per  cent,  German  capital  with  25  per  cent, 
and  Turkish  with  25  per  cent. 

5.  The  oil-wells  of  the  whole  of  Mesopotamia  shall  be 
developed  by  a  British  company,  the  capital  of  which  shall 
be  given  at  50  per  cent  by  England,  at  25  per  cent  by  the 
German  Bank,  at  25  per  cent  by  the  "  Royal  Dutch  Com- 
pany" (a  company  which  is  Dutch,  but  closely  connected 
with  England) .  For  the  irrigation  works  there  had  been  in- 
tended a  similar  understanding.  The  rights  of  the  Anglo- 
Persian  Oil  Company,  in  which,  as  is  known,  the  English 
Government  is  concerned,  remained  unaffected.  This  soci- 
ety exercises  south  of  Basra,  on  the  Schatel-Arabia,  as  well 
as  in  all  south  and  central  Persia,  a  monopoly  on  the  pro- 
duction and  transport  of  oil. 

6.  A  simultaneous  German-French  agreement  leaves  free 
hand  to  French  capital  for  the  construction  of  railways  in 
southern  Syria  and  Palestine. 

41 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Besides  this,  there  is  an  agreement,  already  made  before, 
between  Germany  and  England,  concerning  Africa,  with  a 
repartition  of  their  spheres  of  influence  in  Angola  and  Mo- 
zambique. 

Finally  there  is  to  be  mentioned  the  Morocco  agreement, 
which  established  the  political  predominance  of  France  in 
Morocco,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  stated  the  principle  of 
"open  door"  to  the  trade  of  all  nations. 

Referring  to  this  treaty  Sidney  Low,  in  a  review  of 
the  new  edition  of  Prince  von  Biilow's  "Imperial 
Germany,"  in  the  "Fortnightly  Review"  for  Decem- 
ber, 1916,  says:  — 

In  the  summer  of  1914,  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Great  War,  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  Great  Britain 
and  Germany  by  which  the  Near  Eastern  ambitions  of  the 
former  power  were  recognized  (and,  as  it  would  seem,  en- 
dorsed) to  their  full  extent  by  the  latter.  Prince  von  Biilow 
points  out  that  the  conclusion  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  Treaty 
sets  the  seal  on  one  of  the  great  achievements  in  German 
world-policy.  The  text  of  this  remarkable  treaty  has  not 
been  made  public;  but  its  general  purport  is  known,  and  it 
is  known  also  that  the  German  interests  are  treated  with 
amazing  generosity.  "Germany,"  says  Rohrbach,  "was 
given  concessions  in  the  matter  of  the  Bagdad  Railway,  the 
Mesopotamian  petroleum  springs,  and  the  Tigris  navigation, 
which  exceeded  all  expectations"  In  point  of  fact,  Germany, 
without  any  war,  would  have  secured  a  virtual  control  of 
Asia  Minor  and  Mesopotamia,  and  a  predominant  oppor- 
tunity for  pacific  penetration  in  the  whole  territory  between 
the  Mediterranean  and  the  Persian  Gulf. 

And  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  in  his  speech  in  the 
Reichstag,  December  2, 1914,  in  reference  to  this  agree- 
ment, said :  — 

The  crisis  of  1911  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  negotiations. 
The  English  people  suddenly  realized  that  they  had  stood 

42 


ANGLO-GERMAN   RELATIONS,   1899-1914 

at  the  brink  of  a  European  war.  Popular  sentiment  forced 
the  British  Government  to  a  rapprochement  with  Germany. 
After  long  and  arduous  negotiations  we  finally  arrived  at  an 
understanding  on  various  disputed  questions  of  an  economic 
character,  regarding  Africa  and  Asia  Minor.  This  under- 
standing was  to  lessen  every  possible  political  friction.  The 
world  is  wide.  There  is  room  enough  for  both  nations  to 
measure  their  strength  in  peaceful  rivalry  as  long  as  our 
national  strength  is  allowed  free  scope  for  development. 

The  German  Foreign  Office  published  a  collection  of 
the  dispatches  to  the  Belgian  Government  from  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin. 
These  dispatches  were  found  in  the  archives  of  the 
Belgian  Government.  Among  them  is  one  from  Baron 
Beyens,  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin,  dated  February 
20,  1914,  and  dealing  with  this  treaty.  I  quote  the 
dispatch  in  full :  — 

Baron  Beyens,  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin,  to  M.  Davignon, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs 

Berlin,  February  20,  1914, 

Sir:  — 

The  Franco-German  agreement  concerning  Asia  Minor, 
concluded  very  recently  at  Berlin  after  difficult  negotiations 
and  thanks  to  the  personal  intervention  of  the  Chancellor, 
assures  to  France  a  large  sphere  of  action  and  influence  in 
Syria.  She  will  be  able  to  build  a  railway  line  starting  from 
Beiroot  along  the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  back  of  the  Anti- 
Lebanon  as  far  as  Aleppo,  the  point  of  junction  with  the  Ger- 
man lines.  Another  French  line,  also  starting  from  Beiroot, 
passing  through  Horns,  will  reach  the  Euphrates  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  35th  parallel.  M.  Cambon  showed  me  on 
the  map  these  lines  which  are  not  yet  known  to  the  public. 
The  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  between  Alexandretta  and 
Beiroot  will  be  neutralized;  no  railway  can  be  built  there 
either  by  Germany  or  by  France,  be  it  along  the  coast  or 

43 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

across  the  Anti-Lebanon.  A  line  of  this  sort  was  not  consid- 
ered necessary.  It  would  arouse  the  hostility  of  the  fanatic 
tribes  of  the  iVnti-Lebanon  who  close  their  country  to  Euro- 
peans and  carry  the  products  of  the  soil,  the  chief  one  of 
which  is  tobacco,  to  the  harbor  of  Latakia  themselves.  The 
difficulty  of  the  negotiations  consisted  principally  in  the 
exact  delimitation  of  the  French  and  German  zones  of  influ- 
ence (60  kilometers  on  each  side  of  the  railway),  so  as  to 
prevent  them  from  overlapping.  In  addition  to  this,  France 
retains  the  railway  concessions  which  she  obtained  from 
Turkey  in  the  rich  mineral  district  of  ancient  Cappadocia, 
along  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  very  profitable  railway  of 
Smyrna  and  Cassaba. 

This  is  a  very  illuminating  document.  It  greatly 
increases  our  knowledge  of  the  agreements  of  1914 
between  France  and  Germany  in  regard  to  Asiatic 
Turkey. 

I  give  the  treaty  of  June  1914  just  as  I  received 
it  from  the  German  Foreign  Office.  Assuming  that  it 
would  have  been  duly  signed  by  the  twTo  Governments 
we  may  discuss  its  value  as  a  solution  of  the  problem 
of  Asiatic  Turkey. 

England's  interest  in  Egypt  and  the  Suez  Canal 
was  protected  by  the  French  occupation  of  Palestine 
and  southern  Syria.  Her  interests  in  the  Persian  Gulf 
were  protected  by  her  occupation  of  Kuweit. 

To  a  mere  observer  it  would  seem  that  some  such 
agreement,  that  would  also  contain  provisions  to 
care  for  Russia's  interests,  would  be  a  wise  solution 
at  the  close  of  this  war  for  the  problem  of  Asiatic 
Turkey. 

Had  such  a  treaty  been  consummated,  the  ten  years 
1904  to  1914  would  have  been  signalized  by  a  series  of 
treaties  made  between  Great  Britain  and  the  great 

44 


ANGLO-GERMAN  RELATIONS,  1899-1914 

Continental  powers  that  would  have  removed  nearly 
all  the  causes  of  friction  in  Europe. 

I  have  made  little  reference  to  the  hostile  feeling 
aroused  in  England  and  Germany  by  naval  rivalries, 
partly  because  Germany's  naval  policy  was  simply  a 
factor  in  her  policy  of  expansion  and  partly  because 
this  rivalry  is  a  matter  of  general  knowledge,  while  less 
is  known  of  the  effect  of  Germany's  Asiatic  policy  in 
the  relations  of  the  European  powers. 

With  these  agreements  between  Germany  on  the  one 
hand,  and  England  and  France  on  the  other,  what 
caused  the  war? 

In  my  next  chapter  I  will  deal  with  the  cause  of  the 
war  that  startled  the  world  in  August,  1914. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   THIRTEEN   DAYS   FROM   JULY  23 
TO   AUGUST   4   1914 

The  colonial  and  naval  policy  of  Germany  had  caused 
periods  of  extreme  tension  between  England  and 
Germany,  and  for  more  than  ten  years  before  the 
present  war  broke  out  possibility  and  probability  of 
war  between  these  powers  were  openly  discussed.  A 
period  of  critical  stress  was  caused  by  the  Balkan  Wars, 
when  the  conflicting  interests  of  England  and  Germany 
might  well  have  led  to  war.  But  the  two  countries  had 
become  less  hostile  to  each  other,  and  although  the 
Haldane  mission  of  1912  was  fruitless,  good  feeling  and 
mutual  confidence  had  worked  out  a  solution  of  the 
fundamental  problem  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  and 
Asiatic  Turkey. 

The  collaboration  of  England  and  Germany  during 
the  Balkan  Wars  had  established  relations  of  mutual 
confidence  with  a  considerable  degree  of  friendliness. 

In  April,  1913  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  said  in  the 
Reichstag :  — 

With  England  we  are  on  the  best  footing;  we  have  gone 
hand  in  hand  with  her  in  the  present  crisis,  and  in  spite  of 
Great  Britain's  membership  in  the  Triple  Entente,  it  is  very 
advisable  to  aim  at  a  peaceful  agreement  with  the  British 
Empire  in  the  future.  The  language  of  the  British  statesmen 
is  altogether  conciliatory  and  peaceable. 

We  have  confirmation  of  the  growing  entente  between 
England  and  Germany  in  some  dispatches  sent  by  the 

46 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin  to  his  Government.  These 
dispatches  are  in  a  Gray  Book  published  by  the  Ger- 
man Government,  containing  dispatches  from  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  Berlin,  London,  and  Paris  from 
1905  to  1914,  and  discovered  by  the  German  authorities 
in  the  archives  of  the  Belgian  Government  in  Brussels. 
I  refer  to  this  book  again  and  quote  freely  from  it  in  my 
chapter  on  Belgian  neutrality. 

Baron  Bey  ens,  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin  to  M.  Davignon, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.   [Belgium.] 

Berlin,  October  18,  1912. 
Sir:  — 

The  first  effect  of  the  Balkan  crisis  has  been  to  bring  about 
a  rapprochement  between  the  Imperial  Government  and  that 
of  the  Republic.  The  initiative  which  M.  Poincare  person- 
ally took,  with  a  view  to  reestablishing  peace,  received  the 
approval  and  even  the  praise  of  the  German  press.  [Extract.] 

Baron  Beyens,  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin  to  M.  Davignon, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.   [Belgium.] 

Berlin,  November  30,  1912. 
Sir:  — 

On  this  point  [as  to  the  Balkans]  the  German  policy  is 
approaching  that  of  England  and  France,  both  emphatically 
pacific.  The  German  press  has  adopted  a  much  more  concili- 
atory tone  toward  Great  Britain  and  particularly  toward 
Sir  Edward  Grey.  The  relations  between  the  German  and 
the  British  Governments  are  better  than  they  have  been  for 
a  long  time  and,  according  to  the  assurance  of  the  French 
Ambassador,  a  relaxation  which  greatly  helps  the  mainte- 
nance of  peace  is  also  taking  place  between  the  Cabinets  of 
Berlin  and  Paris.   [Extract.] 

Additional  proof  of  the  improvement  in  the  relations 
of  Germany  and  England  is  to  be  found  in  the  dispatch 

47 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

of  Sir  E.  Goschen,  British  Ambassador  in  Berlin,  who 
wrote  on  August  5,  1914,  to  Sir  Edward  Grey:  — 

I  found  the  Chancellor  very  agitated.  He  said  all  his 
efforts  in  that  direction  had  been  rendered  useless  by  this 
last  terrible  step,  and  the  policy  to  which,  as  I  knew,  he  had 
devoted  himself  since  his  accession  to  office  had  tumbled 
down  like  a  house  of  cards. 

As  I  was  leaving  he  said  that  the  blow  of  Great  Britain 
joining  Germany's  enemies  was  all  the  greater  that  almost 
up  to  the  last  moment  he  and  his  Government  had  been 
working  with  us  and  supporting  our  efforts  to  maintain  peace 
between  Austria  and  Russia.  I  said  that  this  was  part  of 
the  tragedy  that  saw  the  two  nations  fall  apart  just  at  the 
moment  when  the  relations  between  them  had  been  more 
friendly  and  cordial  than  they  had  been  for  years. 

This  improvement  in  the  relations  between  the  two 
countries  is  referred  to  by  Sir  Edward  Grey  in  a  dis- 
patch to  Sir  E.  Goschen  on  July  30,  1914:  — 

And  I  will  say  this:  If  the  peace  of  Europe  can  be  pre- 
served and  the  present  crisis  safely  passed,  my  own  endeavor 
will  be  to  promote  some  arrangement  to  which  Germany 
could  be  a  party,  by  which  she  could  be  assured  that  no 
aggressive  or  hostile  policy  would  be  pursued  against  her  or 
her  allies  by  France,  Russia,  and  ourselves,  jointly  or  sepa- 
rately. I  have  desired  this  and  worked  for  it,  as  far  as  I 
could,  through  the  last  Balkan  crisis,  and  Germany,  having 
a  corresponding  object,  our  relations  sensibly  improved. 

Any  well-informed  European  statesman  might  well 
have  said  on  the  morning  of  June  28, 1914,  that  the  out- 
look for  peace  in  Europe  was  better  than  it  had  been  for 
decades. 

In  1870  the  candidacy  of  the  Prince  of  Hohenzollern 
for  the  throne  of  Spain  was  the  immediate  or  at  least 
ostensible  cause  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  and  in 

48 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

1914  the  assassination  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Austria- 
Hungary  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  present  war. 
The  key  to  the  diplomacy  of  the  fatal  thirteen  days, 
July  23  to  August  4, 1914,  lies  in  the  different  methods 
employed  respectively  by  the  British  and  German 
Governments  to  maintain  peace  after  the  breach  be- 
tween Austria-Hungary  and  Servia. 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  refused  to  interfere  between 
Austria  and  Servia,  and  devoted  all  his  efforts  to  keep 
the  other  powers  out.  The  policy  of  Germany  was 
identical  with  her  policy  in  1908  when  Austria-Hun- 
gary annexed  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  Sir  Edward 
Grey,  with  a  clearer  and  saner  vision,  realized  from  the 
start  that  the  danger  would  be  in  restraining  Russia, 
and  at  once,  grasping  the  essential  European  interest 
in  the  Austro-Servian  War,  urged  the  only  method 
that  could  have  possibly  prevented  the  war. 

On  July  24,  in  a  dispatch  to  the  British  Embassy  in 
Berlin,  Sir  Edward  Grey  said :  — 

If  the  Austrian  ultimatum  to  Servia  did  not  lead  to  trouble 
between  Austria  and  Russia  I  had  no  concern  with  it;  I  had 
heard  nothing  yet  from  St.  Petersburg,  but  I  was  very  appre- 
hensive of  the  view  Russia  would  take  of  the  situation. 

And  on  Saturday,  the  25th,  Sir  Edward  Grey  tele- 
graphed to  the  British  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg : 

The  sudden,  brusque,  and  peremptory  character  of  the 
Austrian  demarche  makes  it  almost  inevitable  that  in  a  very 
short  time  both  Russia  and  Austria  will  have  mobilized 
against  each  other.  In  this  event,  the  only  chance  of  peace, 
in  my  opinion,  is  for  the  other  four  powers  to  join  in  asking 
the  Austrian  and  Russian  Governments  not  to  cross  the 
frontier,  and  to  give  time  for  the  four  powers  acting  at 
Vienna  and  St.  Petersburg  to  try  and  arrange  matters.    If 

49 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Germany  will  adopt  this  view,  I  feel  strongly  that  France 
and  ourselves  should  act  upon  it.  Italy  would  no  doubt 
gladly  cooperate. 

No  diplomatic  intervention  or  meditation  would  be  toler- 
ated by  either  Russia  or  Austria  unless  it  was  clearly  impar- 
tial and  included  the  allies  or  friends  of  both.  The  coopera- 
tion of  Germany  would,  therefore,  be  essential. 

And  to  the  British  Embassy  in  Berlin,  July  25 :  — 

Apparently  we  should  now  soon  be  face  to  face  with  the 
mobilization  of  Austria  and  Russia.  The  only  chance  of 
peace,  if  this  did  happen,  would  be  for  Germany,  France, 
Italy,  and  ourselves  to  keep  together,  and  to  join  in  asking 
Austria  and  Russia  not  to  cross  the  frontier  till  we  had  had 
time  to  try  and  arrange  matters  between  them. 

Finally,  on  July  29,  Sir  Edward  Grey  telegraphed  to 
the  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin :  — 

The  German  Government  had  said  that  they  were  favor- 
able in  principle  to  mediation  between  Russia  and  Austria 
if  necessary.  They  seemed  to  think  the  particular  method 
of  conference,  consultation,  or  discussion,  or  even  conversa- 
tion a  quatre  in  London,  too  formal  a  method.  I  urged  that 
the  German  Government  should  suggest  any  method  by 
which  the  influence  of  the  four  powers  could  be  used  together 
to  prevent  war  between  Austria  and  Russia.  France  agreed, 
Italy  agreed.  The  whole  idea  of  mediation  or  mediating 
influence  was  ready  to  be  put  into  operation  by  any  method 
that  Germany  could  suggest  if  mine  was  not  acceptable.  In 
fact,  mediation  was  ready  to  come  into  operation  by  any 
method  that  Germany  thought  possible  if  only  Germany 
would  "press  the  button"  in  the  interests  of  peace. 

Already  on  Friday,  July  24,  Sir  Edward  Grey  tele- 
graphed the  British  Ambassador  at  Vienna:  — 

In  the  ensuing  conversation  with  His  Excellency,  the 
Austrian  Ambassador,  I  remarked  that  it  seemed  to  me  a 
matter  for  great  regret  that  a  time  limit,  and  such  a  short 

50 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

one  at  that,  had  been  insisted  upon  at  this  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. The  murder  of  the  Archduke  and  some  of  the 
circumstances  respecting  Servia  quoted  in  a  note  aroused 
sympathy  with  Austria.  ...  I  added  that  I  felt  great  appre- 
hension, and  that  I  should  concern  myself  with  the  matter 
simply  and  solely  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  peace  of 
Europe.  The  merits  of  the  dispute  between  Austria  and 
Servia  were  not  the  concern  of  His  Majesty's  Government, 
and  such  comments,  as  I  had  made  above,  were  not  made  in 
order  to  discuss  those  merits. 

As  events  have  unfortunately  proved,  Sir  Edward 
Grey's  plan  was  the  only  one  that  could  have  saved 
Europe.  For  this  reason  there  is  a  general  belief  that 
Germany  failed  to  "press  the  button"  because  she 
wanted  war.  But  neither  the  circumstances  nor  the 
available  documents  justify  such  a  conclusion,  at  least 
so  far  as  the  German  Government  and  the  masses  of 
the  German  people  are  concerned.  Time  alone  will 
show  whether  or  not  the  military  party  in  Germany 
wanted  war.  I  deal  only  with  available  material.  So 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  get  material  from  personal 
interviews  and  documents,  it  seems  clear  that  the  Ger- 
man Government  did  not  want  war.  One  may  criticize 
the'method  employed  which  was  to  localize  the  Austro- 
Servian  War,  and  not  to  regard  the  war  as  a  matter  of 
concern  to  Europe. 

The  exact  difference  between  the  viewpoint  of  the 
English  and  German  Governments  as  to  how  to  pre- 
vent war  is  to  be  found  in  the  dispatch  from  Berlin 
of  Sir  E.  Goschen  (the  British  Ambassador)  to  Sir 
Edward  Grey,  on  July  28 :  — 

At  the  invitation  of  Imperial  Chancellor,  I  called  upon 
His  Excellency  this  evening.  He  said  that  he  wished  me  to 
tell  you  that  he  was  most  anxious  that  Germany  should 

51 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

work  together  with  England  for  maintenance  of  general 
peace,  as  they  had  done  successfully  in  the  last  European 
crisis.  He  had  not  been  able  to  accept  your  proposal  for  a 
conference  of  representatives  of  the  great  powers,  because 
he  did  not  think  that  it  would  be  effective,  and  because  such 
a  conference  would  in  his  opinion  have  had  appearance  of  an 
"Areopagus"  consisting  of  two  powers  of  each  group  sitting 
in  judgment  upon  the  two  remaining  powers;  but  his  in- 
ability to  accept  proposed  conference  must  not  be  regarded 
as  militating  against  his  strong  desire  for  effective  coopera- 
tion. I  ventured  to  say  that  if  Austria  refused  to  take  any 
notice  of  Servian  note,  which,  to  my  mind,  gave  way  in 
nearly  every  point  demanded  by  Austria,  and  which  in  any 
case  offered  a  basis  for  discussion,  surely  a  certain  portion  of 
responsibility  would  rest  with  her.  His  Excellency  said  that 
he  did  not  wish  to  discuss  the  Servian  note,  but  that  Austria's 
standpoint,  and  in  this  he  agreed,  was  that  her  quarrel  with 
Servia  was  a  purely  Austrian  concern  with  which  Russia 
had  nothing  to  do.  He  reiterated  his  desire  to  cooperate 
with  England  and  his  intention  to  do  his  utmost  to  maintain 
general  peace.  "A  war  between  the  great  powers  must  be 
avoided,"  were  his  last  words. 

The  trouble  was  that  Austria  felt  secure  in  her  course. 

The  exact  position  of  Austria-Hungary  and  Ger- 
many is  expressed  in  a  dispatch  from  Count  Szogyeny, 
the  Austrian  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  to  Count  Berch- 
told,  as  follows:  — 

Berlin,  July  28, 19U. 

The  proposal  for  mediation  made  by  Great  Britain,  that 
Germany,  Italy,  Great  Britain,  and  France  should  meet  at  a 
conference  at  London,  is  declined  so  far  as  Germany  is  con- 
cerned on  the  ground  that  it  is  impossible  for  Germany  to 
bring  her  Ally  before  a  European  Court  in  her  settlement 
with  Servia. 

On  the  28th  of  July  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  sent  a 

52 


JULY  23  TO   AUGUST  4,    1914 

dispatch  to  the  Governments  of  Germany,  which  con- 
cluded in  these  words :  — 

Our  own  interest  therefore  calls  us  to  the  side  of  Austria- 
Hungary.  .  .  . 

Should,  however,  against  our  hope,  through  the  interfer- 
ence of  Russia,  the  fire  be  spread,  we  should  have  to  support, 
faithful  to  our  duty  as  allies,  the  neighbor-monarchy  with 
all  the  power  at  our  command. 

It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  the  course  of  affairs 
would  not  follow  that  of  the  Bosnian  crisis  of  1908, 
and  that  Russia  would  insist  on  interfering  if  Austria 
attacked  Servia.  This  led  to  a  dispatch  from  Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  that  does  not  appear  in  the 
German  White  Book.  It  was  revealed  in  a  debate  in 
the  Reichstag  November  9,  1916,  by  Von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  and  is  as  follows :  — 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  to  Count  Berchtold 

Berlin,  July  30,  191^. 

Should  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  refuse  all 
mediation,  we  should  be  confronted  with  a  world-conflagra- 
tion in  which  England  would  go  against  us,  and  Italy  and 
Rumania,  by  all  indications,  would  not  be  with  us;  so  that 
with  Austria-Hungary  we  should  be  facing  three  great 
powers.  Germany,  as  a  result  of  England's  hostility,  would 
have  to  bear  the  chief  brunt  of  the  fight. 

The  political  prestige  of  Austria-Hungary,  the  honor  of 
her  arms,  and  her  justified  claims  against  Servia  can  be 
sufficiently  safeguarded  by  the  occupation  of  Belgrade  or 
other  places.  We  therefore  urgently  and  emphatically  ask 
the  Vienna  Cabinet  to  consider  the  acceptance  of  mediation 
on  the  proposed  conditions. 

This  dispatch  caused  a  sensation  in  Germany  when 
it  was  made  known. 

53 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

On  Thursday,  July  30,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  saw 
the  situation  substantially  as  Sir  Edward  Grey  had 
seen  it  on  Saturday,  July  25.  The  loss  of  these  five 
critical  days  was  fatal. 

On  July  30,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  telegraphed  to 
the  German  Ambassador  at  Vienna  as  follows :  — 

Berlin,  July  30,  191}. 

We  are  indeed  ready  to  fulfill  our  duty.  As  an  ally  we 
must,  however,  refuse  to  be  drawn  into  a  world-conflagra- 
tion through  Austria-Hungary  not  respecting  our  advice. 
Your  Excellency  will  express  this  to  Count  Berchtold  with 
all  emphasis  and  great  seriousness. 

In  the  German  White  Book  occurs  this  statement 
as  to  England's  policy:  — 

Shoulder  to  shoulder  with  England,  we  labored  inces- 
santly, and  supported  every  proposal  in  Vienna  from  which 
we  hoped  to  gain  the  possibility  of  a  peaceable  solution  of 
the  conflict.  We  even,  as  late  as  the  30th  of  July,  forwarded 
the  English  proposal  to  Vienna,  as  basis  for  negotiations, 
that  Austria-Hungary  should  dictate  her  conditions  in 
Servia,  i.e.,  after  her  march  into  Servia. 

And  on  August  4,  1914,  before  the  Reichstag,  Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg  said :  — 

Russia  has  set  fire  to  the.  building.  We  are  at  war  with 
Russia  and  France  —  a  war  that  has  been  forced  upon  us. 
.  .  .  From  the  first  moment  of  the  Austro-Servian  conflict  we 
declared  that  this  question  must  be  limited  to  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Servia,  and  we  worked  with  this  end  in  view. 
All  Governments,  especially  that  of  Great  Britain,  took  the 
same  attitude.  Russia  alone  asserted  that  she  had  to  be 
heard  in  the  settlement  of  this  matter. 

Few  students  of  the  war,  or  writers  of  books  on  the 
war,  have  paid  much  attention  to  the  efforts  for  mu- 

54 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

tual  understanding  between  England  and  Germany. 
This  has  led  German  writers  into  a  field  of  absurdi- 
ties in  their  endeavor  to  charge  England  with  the  guilt 
of  the  war.  The  same  is  true  of  the  writers  of  books 
hostile  to  Germany.  For  that  reason  I  have  described 
somewhat  fully  the  Haldane  visit  to  Germany  in  1912, 
and  have  also  referred  to  the  growing  friendliness 
between  the  two  countries  during  the  Balkan  Wars. 
I  have  given  the  terms  of  the  proposed  treaty  of  June, 
1914,  showing  that  the  two  Governments  were  work- 
ing together  hopefully. 

There  is  one  other  point  in  the  history  of  the  origin 
of  the  war  that  is  frequently  forgotten  by  people  gen- 
erally, and  that  is  the  nature  of  the  situation  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  When  I  visited  Buda-Pesth  and  Vienna,  last 
March,  it  came  to  me,  almost  as  a  new  idea,  that, 
after  all,  the  war  started  between  Austria  and  Servia. 
Further,  that  from  the  Austro-Hungarian  standpoint, 
the  interference  of  other  powers  was  utterly  uncalled  for. 

During  the  month  of  July,  and  up  to  the  time  that 
England  entered  the  war,  Dr.  E.  J.  Dillon  was  in 
Vienna.  Dr.  Dillon  is  perhaps  the  best-informed 
journalist  in  Europe.  If  De  Blowitz  has  a  successor  it 
is  Dillon.  I  have  met  him  frequently  in  London, 
Paris,  Petrograd,  and  elsewhere,  and  have  been  famil- 
iar with  his  work  for  years.  His  dispatches  to  the 
London  "Daily  Telegraph"  from  July  11  until  August 
4,  1914,  give  a  singularly  accurate  picture  of  the  out- 
look. His  knowledge  was  so  well  founded  that  his 
dispatches  are  prophetic. 

In  a  dispatch  dated  Vienna,  July  11  (two  weeks  be- 
fore Austria-Hungary  sent  the  note  to  Servia  that 
caused  the  war),  he  says:  — 

55 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

I  have  received  a  very  remarkable  commentary  on  the 
feeling  called  forth  in  Austria-Hungary  against  Servia  by 
the  Serajevo  outrage  from  one  of  the  highest  officials  of  the 
State.   My  informant's  statement  is  as  follows :  — 

"In  order  to  understand  the  feelings  that  have  been 
excited  in  Austria-Hungary  by  the  Serajevo  murders,  the 
evils  to  which  this  country  has  already  been  subjected  at  the 
hands  of  her  small  neighbors  in  the  southeast  must  be  taken 
into  account.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Servia's  policy 
for  more  than  ten  years  past  has  been  directed  toward  the 
ultimate  end  of  wresting  such  regions  as  are  inhabited  by 
Serbs  from  Austria-Hungary,  and  that  she  has  perhaps  even 
hoped  to  gain  the  entire  Southern  Slavonic  territory  now 
incorporated  with  the  Monarchy." 

In  my  interview  with  Count  Tisza  and  his  asso- 
ciates I  went  right  to  the  heart  of  the  question :  — 

'Why  did  Austria-Hungary  send  such  a  peremptory  note 
to  Servia  with  a  forty-eight-hour  limit?" 

"Because,"  they  said,  "the  intrigues  and  aims  of  Servia 
threatened  the  existence  of  the  Empire." 

"But  why  the  forty -eight-hour  limit?" 

"  Because  we  knew  Servia,  knew  that  nothing  but  such  a 
demand  would  bring  a  reply.  Without  such  a  time  limit  no 
satisfaction  could  be  secured.  Twice  before  we  had  to 
mobilize  our  armies  at  an  expense  of  $80,000,000  to  $100,- 
000,000  each  time,  putting  a  heavy  burden  on  our  national 
budget.  The  situation  had  become  intolerable  and  danger- 
ous and  finally  Servia  had  plotted  to  murder  our  Crown 
Prince." 

"But  did  you  not  know,"  I  asked,  "that  Russia  would 
certainly  intervene?" 

"  It  was  none  of  Russia's  business.  It  was  a  private  matter 
between  Servia  and  us.  What  would  America  think  if  Japan 
intervened  in  your  Mexican  trouble?" 

"  Yes,"  I  said.  "  Let  us  admit  that  it  was  none  of  Russia's 
business.  Still,  did  you  not  know  that  Russia  would  make 
it  her  business?" 

56 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

They  said:  "  We  thought  the  chances  of  Russia's  interfer- 
ing were  about  fifty-fifty,  but  that  whatever  the  conse- 
quences we  must  remove  the  Servian  menace." 

I  asked  if  they  did  not  realize  that  if  Russia  came  in  all 
Europe  would  be  involved.  The  reply  was:  "  It  was  none  of 
Europe's  business.  Europe  must  interfere  at  her  own  risk. 
Our  situation  was  dangerous  and  intolerable.  Because 
Servia  was  a  small  state  we  had  been  very  patient,  but  when 
our  Crown  Prince  was  assassinated  we  felt  we  must  put  an 
end  to  the  whole  Servian  danger." 

The  manner  of  the  Hungarians  I  saw  was  even  more 
convincing  than  their  words.  Some  of  the  officials  gave 
the  impression  of  men  under  an  obsession.  To  them 
the  Servian  trouble  two  years  ago  was  the  most  terrible 
thing  in  the  world. 

Count  Berchtold  was  Foreign  Minister  when  the 
war  broke  out,  and  he  wrote  all  the  dispatches  of 
Austria-Hungary,  including  the  note  to  Servia.  The 
Countess  Berchtold  is  the  daughter  of  a  famous 
Hungarian  diplomat.  Her  father  was  for  many  years 
the  Austrian  Ambassador  to  England. 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  invited  to  luncheon  by 
the  Count  and  Countess  Berchtold,  for  I  got  the  most 
definite  information  from  the  Countess  Berchtold,  who 
was  not  only  well  informed,  but  expressed  herself 
clearly  and  objectively. 

Into  the  maze  of  southeastern  European  politics  I 
cannot  go,  so  I  will  give  the  ideas  I  got  from  the  Count 
and  Countess  in  terms  understandable  to  myself  and 
to  my  readers :  — 

The  southern  and  eastern  boundaries  of  Austria-Hungary 
are,  so  far  as  race,  nationality,  and  religion  are  concerned, 
a  sort  of  twilight  zone. 

After  their  success  in  the  two  Balkan  wars,  the  Servian 

57 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

people  determined  to  increase  their  territory  by  annexing 
the  provinces  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  inhabited 
by  Slavs. 

They  believed  that  our  empire  would  soon  fall  to  pieces, 
that  only  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  held  it  together. 
They  counted  on  a  revolution  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, 
and  on  the  unreliability  of  the  Slav  regiments  in  the  Austrian 
army. 

They  not  only  hated  Austria,  but  regarded  her  as  power- 
less, as  a  country  ripe  for  destruction,  on  the  ruins  of  which 
they  would  found  the  Great  Servian  Empire.  These  ideas 
were  set  forth,  even  in  their  more  moderate  and  serious  news- 
papers. No  one  could  run  for  office  in  Servia,  unless  he  were 
opposed  to  Austria  and  backed  up  the  anti-Austrian  prop- 
aganda. 

In  the  press  and  on  the  platform  the  Servians  spoke  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  officials  and  leading  men  as  outlaws,  and 
referred  to  them  as  murderers,  rogues,  cursed  Austrians,  etc. 

We  realized  that  we  must  once  for  all  clear  up  this  con- 
tinuing and  serious  danger. 

I  also  saw  Baron  Burian,  the  Foreign  Minister 
of  Austria-Hungary  in  1916.  He  said  to  me  that 
"Russia  was  using  Servia  as  a  torpedo  to  wreck  our 
empire." 

To  summarize:  The  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  has 
about  eight  Irelands  or  Mexicos.  The  worst  of  these 
Irelands  was  Servia.  Of  course  the  conditions  are  not 
identical,  and  for  the  purpose  of  getting  at  the  real 
cause  of  the  war  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the  rights 
and  wrongs  of  the  Austro-Servian  situation.  First  let 
us  study  the  racial  situation  in  Austria-Hungary:  — 


58 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

Austria 

Round  figures 
in  lens  of 
thousands 

Germans 9,950,000 

Czechs 6,440,000 

Poles 4,970,000 

Ruthenians 3,520,000 

Slovenes 1,260,000 

Serbo-Croatians 790,000 

Italians 770,000 

Roumanians 280,000 

Total 27,980,000 

Hungary 

Magyars 10,050,000 

Roumanians 2,950,000 

Serbo-Croatians 2,940,000 

Germans 2,040,000 

Slovaks 1,970,000 

Ruthenians 480,000 

Total 20,430,000 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 

Serbo-Croatians    (orthodox    or   Moslems  of 

Serbian  origin) 2,000,000 

For  the  last  thirty  years  Austro-Hungarian  politics 
have  centered  entirely  about  the  struggle  of  the  other 
races  (Poles,  Czechs,  Slovaks,  Ruthenes,  Croats,  Serbs, 
Slovenes,  Rumanians,  and  Italians,  —  nearly  30,000,- 
000  in  all)  against  the  German-Magyar  ascendancy 
crystallized  in  the  Dualist  Constitution.  .  .  . 

The  race  question,  however,  is  not  only  an  internal 
problem.  Many  of  the  races  in  the  Monarchy  have 
large  numbers  of  their  fellows  just  beyond  the  bound- 
aries. The  bulk  of  the  Poles  are  in  Russian  and  German 
Poland;  the  Ruthenes  are  but  a  section  of  the  Little 

59 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Russian  people  occupying  the  Ukraine  —  the  south- 
west corner  of  Russia;  three  and  a  half  million  Ruma- 
nians are  blood  brothers  to  the  inhabitants  of  Rumania; 
finally,  the  Southern  Slavs  in  Servia  and  Montenegro 
number  3,500,000  as  against  6,500,000  within  the 
Monarchy.  The  politics  of  Austria-Hungary  are  infi- 
nitely complicated  by  nationalist  movements  among 
each  of  these  peoples  for  reunion  with  their  brothers 
outside. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  1914,  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Austria-Hungary  and  his  consort  were  assassinated  at 
Serajevo.  This  deed  inflamed  Austria-Hungary,  and  on 
July  23  Count  Berchtold  sent  the  dispatch  that  led  to 
the  war. 

The  gist  of  the  Austrian  demands,  of  which  there 
were  ten,  was  as  follows:  — 

1.  Servia  shall  suppress  all  anti- Austrian  publications. 

2.  Dissolve  the  Narodna  Odbrana  and  all  similar  socie- 
ties, confiscate  their  funds,  and  prevent  their  re-forming. 

3.  Remove  from  public  education  in  Servia  all  teachers 
and  teaching  that  are  anti-Austrian. 

4.  Remove  from  military  and  civil  service  all  officers  and 
officials  guilty  of  anti-Austrian  propaganda;  Austria  will 
name  the  persons. 

5.  Accept  collaboration  of  Austrian  representatives  in  the 
suppression  of  anti-Austrian  propaganda. 

6.  Take  judicial  proceedings  against  accessories  to  the 
plot  against  the  Archduke;  Austrian  delegates  will  take  part 
in  the  investigations. 

7.  Arrest  Major  Voija  Tankositch  and  the  individual 
named  Milan  Ciganovitch. 

8.  Prevent  and  punish  the  illegal  traffic  in  arms  and 
explosives. 

9.  Send  to  Austria  explanations  of  all  unjustifiable  utter- 
ances of  high  Servian  officials,  at  home  and  abroad. 

60 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

10.  Notify  without  delay  that  the  above  measures  are 
executed.   Reply  before  6  p.m.  on  Saturday,  July  25. 

The  answers  to  the  ten  points  may  be  summarized 
thus:  — 

1.  Yes;  will  suppress  all  anti- Austrian  publications. 

2.  Yes;  will  suppress  the  Narodna  Odbrana  and  similar 
societies. 

3.  Yes;  will  expel  all  anti- Austrian  teachers  and  teaching 
as  soon  as  evidence  given. 

4.  Yes;  will  expel  all  anti-Austrian  officers  and  officials, 
if  Austria  will  furnish  names  and  acts  of  guilty  persons. 

5.  Yes;  will  accept  collaboration  of  Austrian  representa- 
tives in  these  proceedings,  as  far  as  consonant  with  princi- 
ples of  international  law  and  criminal  procedure  and  neigh- 
borly relations. 

6.  Yes;  will  take  the  judicial  proceedings;  will  also  keep 
Austria  informed;  but  cannot  admit  the  participation  of 
Austrians  in  the  judicial  investigations,  as  this  would  be  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution. 

7.  Yes;  have  arrested  Tankositch;  ordered  arrest  of 
Ciganovitch. 

8.  Yes;  will  suppress  and  punish  traffic  in  arms  and  ex- 
plosives. 

9.  Yes;  will  deal  with  the  said  high  officials,  if  Austria 
will  supply  evidence. 

10.  Yes;  will  notify  without  delay. 

If  this  answer  not  satisfactory,  Servia  will  abide  by 
decision  of  the  Hague  Tribunal. 

If  all  these  conditions  were  not  accepted  in  forty- 
eight  hours,  war  would  immediately  be  declared. 
Public  opinion  in  Austria  was  for  war.  If  Servia 
accepted,  her  situation  would  be  almost  the  same  as  if 
she  had  been  reduced  to  submission  by  a  victorious 
war.  I  was  constantly  told  by  people,  in  general,  that 
the  note  was  meant  to  make  war. 

61 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

In  a  dispatch  on  July  24  to  the  London  "Daily 
Telegraph,"  from  Vienna,  Dr.  E.  J.  Dillon  said:  — 

Is  it  to  be  war  or  peace?  My  personal  belief  is  that  war 
will  be  avoided.  But,  having  traveled  from  the  extreme 
south  of  the  Monarchy  to  Vienna,  and  conversed  with  vari- 
ous representatives  of  the  population  on  the  way,  I  am  in  a 
position  to  affirm  that  almost  everybody  hopes  fervently 
that  the  long-threatening  storm  will  burst,  not  because  the 
national  sentiment  is  suddenly  grown  bellicose,  but  because 
people  are  sick  to  death  of  the  periodic  crises  which  throw 
public  and  private  life  out  of  gear,  paralyze  trade  and  com- 
merce, inflict  enormous  losses  on  the  wealth-creating  classes, 
and  are  then  settled  for  a  couple  of  months  or  years,  only  to 
break  out  anew. 

As  I  have  said,  Dr.  Dillon  is  one  of  the  very  best 
informed  journalists  in  Europe.  I  therefore  quote  fully 
from  him  as  to  the  actual  belief  in  Austria,  in  which  he 
confirms  all  I  learned  nearly  two  years  later.    He 

says : — 

In  a  word,  the  impending  break-up  of  the  Habsburg  Mon- 
archy is  become  a  recognized  political  dogma,  accepted  theo- 
retically by  some  powers,  but  firmly  held  by  others  and 
treated  by  them  as  the  center  round  which  their  policy, 
domestic  and  foreign,  revolves.  This  is  especially  true  of 
Servia. 

It  is  no  longer  mere  prestige  that  is  at  stake;  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  life  or  death  for  the  Monarchy,  and  will  be  dealt  with 
as  such.  Consequently,  adequate  provision  has  been  made 
for  whichever  alternative  Servia  may  prefer. 

That  is  why  only  forty-eight  hours  were  allowed  for 
reflection,  and  why  tasks  are  imposed  which  will  subject 
the  pride  of  the  Servian  nation  to  the  most  painful  ordeal  it 
has  ever  undergone. 

No  discussion  will  be  allowed;  no  extension  of  time  will  be 
granted.   Such  in  outline  is  the  case  as  stated  here. 

62 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

As  to  the  position  of  Germany  Dr.  Dillon  is  equally- 
accurate.  On  July  25  he  telegraphed :  — 

Meanwhile  Austria's  allies  have  taken  their  stand,  which 
is  favorable  to  the  action  of  this  Government  and  to  the 
employment  of  all  the  available  means  to  localize  the  event- 
ual conflict.  It  is  further  assumed  that  Great  Britain  will, 
if  hostilities  should  result,  hold  aloof,  and  that  France  will 
make  her  influence  felt  in  preventing,  rather  than  waiting 
to  localize,  the  struggle. 

Respecting  Russia's  attitude  in  the  contingency  of  war, 
opinions  are  openly  divided,  but  no  doubt  is  expressed  or 
felt  that  if  the  crisis  had  not  come  to  a  climax  until  a  year  or 
two  later,  her  entire  support  would  be  unhesitatingly  given 
to  Servia. 

The  general  feeling  in  Austria-Hungary  is  expressed 
by  the  "Neue  Freie  Presse,"  which  stated  that  a 
peaceful  settlement  could  follow  only  a  "war  to  the 
knife  against  Pan-Slavism." 

Sir  M.  de  Bunsen  wrote  to  SirE.  Grey  that  "the 
language  of  the  press  leaves  the  impression  that  the 
surrender  of  Servia  is  neither  expected  nor  really  de- 
sired." 

The  Servian  Government  accepted  fully  all  the  de- 
mands excepting  two.  She  did  not  refuse  these  two 
demands,  but  offered  to  submit  them  to  the  Hague 
Tribunal  or  to  the  great  powers. 

Austria,  without  a  moment's  consideration,  refused 
to  accept  Servia's  reply,  and  declared  war  immediately. 

At  this  point,  in  all  likelihood,  the  European  war 
could  have  been  avoided  by  referring  the  dispute  to 
The  Hague.  History  will  hold  Austria-Hungary  as 
having  assumed  this  most  terrible  responsibility  by  re- 
fusing a  course  of  action  which  would  almost  certainly 
have  secured  peace. 

63 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

At  the  last  moment  Servia  held  out  another  olive 
branch,  as  is  seen  in  a  dispatch  sent  from  the  British 
Ambassador  at  Rome  on  July  28,  telegraphed  to 
Sir  Edward  Grey,  as  follows :  — 

At  the  request  of  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  I  submit 
the  following  to  you :  — 

In  a  long  conversation  this  morning  Servian  Charge 
d' Affaires  had  said  he  thought  that  if  some  explanations 
were  given  regarding  mode  in  which  Austrian  agents  would 
require  to  intervene  under  article  5  and  article  6,  Servia 
might  still  accept  the  whole  Austrian  Note. 

As  it  was  not  to  be  anticipated  that  Austria  would  give 
such  explanations  to  Servia,  they  might  be  given  to  powers 
engaged  in  discussions  who  might  then  advise  Servia  to 
accept  without  conditions. 

The  world  is  entitled  to  know  why  Austria-Hungary 
refused  this  opportunity  to  prevent  war. 

I  have  taken  considerable  pains  to  make  clear  the 
local  situation.  Austria-Hungary  did  not  consider 
sufficiently  the  international  situation.  Russia  was  de- 
termined to  prevent  the  subjugation  of  Servia.  If 
neither  Russia  nor  Austria  yielded,  war  between  those 
two  powers  was  inevitable.  The  moment  they  went 
to  war  Germany  must,  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation, 
assist  Austria.  She  could  not  see  her  ally  reduced 
militarily.  For  the  same  reason  France  could  not  see 
the  military  power  of  Russia  destroyed  by  the  united 
forces  of  Germany  and  Austria,  and  England  could 
not  afford  to  have  France  reduced  to  practical  vassal- 
age by  Germany. 

All  these  possibilities  Sir  Edward  Grey  foresaw  at 
the  beginning;  too  late  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary 
realized  these  same  possibilities.  No  combination  short 
of  the  four  powers,  England,  Germany,  France,  and 

64 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

Italy,  could  have  mediated  between  Austria  and 
Russia,  and  thus  have  localized  the  difficulty.  The 
failure  to  form  such  a  conference  was  due  to  the  oppo- 
sition of  Germany,  whose  policy  was  to  localize  the 
war  between  Austria  and  Servia. 

War  could  have  been  avoided  at  the  start  had 
Austria  been  willing  to  go  to  The  Hague,  as  suggested 
by  Servia,  and  later  by  the  Czar.  Still  later,  war  could 
have  been  avoided  by  a  combination  of  the  four  powers 
who  could  have  exercised  sufficient  restraint  on  Austria 
and  Russia. 

All  that  I  can  learn  seems  to  indicate  that  both 
Austria  and  Germany  expected  the  crisis  of  1914  to 
take  the  same  course  as  the  Bosnian  crisis  of  1908. 

Dr.  Dillon  on  Sunday,  July  26,  telegraphed  from 
Vienna  the  reasons  why  Austria  expected  as  free  a 
hand  as  in  1908:  — 

Vigilant  attention  was  paid  to  the  choice  of  a  propitious 
moment. 

It  was  a  moment  when  the  sympathies  of  Europe  were 
with  the  Austro-Hungarian  people,  whose  sovereign-desig- 
nate was  cruelly  slain  by  political  assassins  from  Servia  at 
the  instigation  of  men  who  occupied  posts  as  public  servants 
there. 

It  was  a  moment  when  the  French  nation,  impressed  by 
revelations  made  in  the  Senate  respecting  its  inadequate 
preparedness  for  war,  appeared  less  than  ever  minded  to 
take  any  diplomatic  action  which  might  lead  to  a  breach  of 
the  peace. 

It  was  a  moment  when  the  cares  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment were  absorbed  in  forecasting  and  preparing  for  the 
fateful  consequences  of  its  internal  policy,  in  regard  to  Irish 
Home  Rule,  which  may,  it  is  apprehended,  culminate  in 
civil  war. 

It  was  a  moment  when  the  President  and  Foreign  Secre- 

6.5 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

tary  of  the  French  Republic  were  absent  in  Russia,  drinking 
toasts  to  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  celebrating  the  concord 
and  brotherhood  of  the  French  and  Russian  peoples. 

It  was  a  moment  when  Russia  herself  was  confronted 
with  a  problem  of  revolutionary  strikes,  which,  it  is  assumed, 
would  set  in  with  oceanic  violence  if  that  empire  were  to 
embark  in  war  with  the  Central  European  powers. 

As  the  week  advanced  Sir  Edward  Grey,  realizing 
more  and  more  the  seriousness  of  the  situation,  finally 
sent  this  pregnant  message  to  the  British  Ambassador 
in  Berlin,  dated  London,  July  31:  — 

I  said  to  German  Ambassador  this  morning  that  if  Ger- 
many could  get  any  reasonable  proposal  put  forward  which 
made  it  clear  that  Germany  and  Austria  were  striving  to 
preserve  European  peace,  and  that  Russia  and  France  would 
be  unreasonable  if  they  rejected  it,  I  would  support  it  at 
St.  Petersburg  and  Paris,  and  go  the  length  of  saying  that 
if  Russia  and  France  would  not  accept  it  His  Majesty's 
Government  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  conse- 
quences; but,  otherwise,  I  told  German  Ambassador  that  if 
France  became  involved  we  should  be  drawn  in. 

You  can  add  this  when  sounding  Chancellor  or  Secretary 
of  State  as  to  proposal  above. 

It  is  difficult,  to  understand  why  the  German  Gov- 
ernment failed  to  avail  itself  of  the  opportunity  Sir 
Edward  Grey  suggested.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if 
the  Chancellor  had  been  overruled. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  while  -  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  in  1870  was  threatening  between  France 
and  Germany,  on  account  of  France's  opposition  to 
the  candidacy  of  the  Prince  of  Hohenzollern  to  the 
throne  of  Spain,  suddenly  the  threat  of  war  was 
averted  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  candidacy  of  the 
Prince. 

6G 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

The  King  of  Prussia  did  not  want  war.  Bismarck 
himself  tells  us  fully  how  he  was  able  to  make  war 
against  the  opposition  of  the  King. 

Here  is  Prince  Bismarck's  own  account  of  his  act 
which  led  France  to  declare  war  on  Germany :  — 

The  Ems  Telegram l 

On  July  12,  1870,  I  decided  to  hurry  off  from  Varzin  to 
Ems  to  discuss  with  His  Majesty  about  summoning  the 
Reichstag  for  the  purpose  of  the  mobilization.  As  I  passed 
through  Wussow  my  friend  Mulert,  the  old  clergyman, 
stood  before  the  parsonage  door  and  warmly  greeted  me; 
my  answer  from  the  open  carriage  was  a  thrust  in  quarte  and 
tierce  in  the  air,  and  he  clearly  understood  that  I  believed  I 
was  going  to  war.  As  I  entered  the  courtyard  of  my  house  at 
Berlin,  and  before  leaving  the  carriage,  I  received  telegrams 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  King  was  continuing  to 
treat  with  Benedetti,  even  after  the  French  threats  and 
outrages  in  parliament  and  in  the  press,  and  not  referring 
him  with  calm  reserve  to  his  ministers.  During  the  meal,  at 
which  Moltke  and  Roon  were  present,  the  announcement 
arrived  from  the  embassy  in  Paris  that  the  Prince  of  Hohen- 
zollern  had  renounced  his  candidature  in  order  to  prevent 
the  war  with  which  France  threatened  us.  My  first  idea  was 
to  retire  from  the  service,  because,  after  all  the  insolent 
challenges  which  had  gone  before,  I  perceived  in  this  ex- 
torted submission  a  humiliation  of  Germany  for  which  I  did 
not  desire  to  be  responsible.  This  impression  of  a  wound  to 
our  sense  of  national  honor  by  the  compulsory  withdrawal 
so  dominated  me  that  I  had  already  decided  to  announce 
my  retirement  at  Ems. 

I  was  very  much  depressed,  for  I  saw  no  means  of  repair- 
ing the  corroding  injury  I  dreaded  to  our  national  position 
from  a  timorous  policy,  unless  by  picking  quarrels  clumsily 
and  seeking  them  artificially.     I  already  regarded  war  at 

1  From  Bismarck,  the  Man  and  the  Statesman.  By  Himself.  Harper  & 
Bros.,  publishers. 

67 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

that  time  as  a  necessity,  which  we  could  no  longer  avoid 
with  honor.  I  telegraphed  to  my  people  at  Varzin  not  to 
pack  up  or  start,  for  I  should  be  back  again  in  a  few  days. 
I  now  believed  in  peace;  but  as  I  would  not  represent  the 
attitude  by  which  this  peace  had  been  purchased,  I  gave  up 
the  journey  to  Ems  and  asked  Count  Eulenburg  to  go  thither 
and  represent  my  opinion  to  His  Majesty.  In  the  same  sense 
I  conversed  with  the  Minister  of  War,  Von  Roon:  we  had 
got  the  slap  in  the  face  from  France,  and  had  been  reduced, 
by  our  complaisance,  to  look  like  seekers  of  a  quarrel  if  we 
entered  upon  war,  the  only  way  in  which  we  could  wipe 
away  the  stain.  My  position  was  now  untenable,  solely 
because,  during  his  course  at  the  baths,  the  King,  under 
pressure  of  threats,  had  given  audience  to  the  French  Am- 
bassador for  four  consecutive  days,  and  had  exposed  his 
royal  person  to  insolent  treatment  from  this  foreign  agent 
without  ministerial  assistance.  Through  this  inclination  to 
take  state  business  upon  himself  in  person  and  alone,  the 
King  had  been  forced  into  a  position  which  I  could  not 
defend;  in  my  judgment  His  Majesty  while  at  Ems  ought 
to  have  refused  every  business  communication  from  the 
French  negotiator,  who  was  not  on  the  same  footing  with 
him,  and  to  have  referred  him  to  the  department  in  Berlin. 
The  department  would  then  have  had  to  obtain  His  Maj- 
esty's decision  by  a  representation  at  Ems,  or,  if  dilatory 
treatment  were  considered  useful,  by  a  report  in  writing. 
But  His  Majesty,  however  careful  in  his  usual  respect  for 
departmental  relations,  was  too  fond,  not  indeed  of  deciding 
important  questions  personally,  but,  at  all  events,  of  dis- 
cussing them,  to  make  a  proper  use  of  the  shelter  with  which 
the  Sovereign  is  purposely  surrounded  against  importunities 
and  inconvenient  questionings  and  demands.  That  the  King, 
considering  the  consciousness  of  his  supreme  dignity  which 
he  possessed  in  so  high  a  degree,  did  not  withdraw  at  the 
very  beginning  from  Benedetti's  importunity  was  to  be 
attributed  for  the  most  part  to  the  influence  exercised  upon 
him  by  the  Queen,  who  was  at  Coblenz  close  by.  He  was 
seventy-three  years  old,  a  lover  of  peace,  and  disinclined  to 
risk  the  laurels  of  1866  in  a  fresh  struggle;  but  when  he  was 

68 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

free  from  the  feminine  influence,  the  sense  of  honor  of  the 
heir  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  of  a  Prussian  officer  always 
remained  paramount.  Against  the  opposition  of  his  consort, 
due  to  her  natural  feminine  timidity  and  lack  of  national 
feeling,  the  King's  power  of  resistance  was  weakened  by  his 
knightly  regard  for  the  lady  and  his  kingly  consideration  for 
a  Queen,  and  especially  for  his  own  Queen.  I  have  been  told 
that  Queen  Augusta  implored  her  husband  with  tears,  before 
his  departure  from  Ems  to  Berlin,  to  bear  in  mind  Jena  and 
Tilsit  and  avert  war.  I  consider  the  statement  authentic, 
even  to  the  tears. 

Having  decided  to  resign,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances 
which  Roon  made  against  it,  I  invited  him  and  Moltke  to 
dine  with  me  alone  on  the  13th,  and  communicated  to  them 
at  table  my  views  and  projects  for  doing  so.  Both  were 
greatly  depressed,  and  reproached  me  indirectly  with  self- 
ishly availing  myself  of  my  greater  facility  for  withdrawing 
from  service.  I  maintained  the  position  that  I  could  not 
offer  up  my  sense  of  honor  to  politics,  that  both  of  them, 
being  professional  soldiers  and  consequently  without  free- 
dom of  choice,  need  not  take  the  same  point  of  view  as  a 
responsible  Foreign  Minister.  During  the  conversation  I 
was  informed  that  a  telegram  from  Ems,  in  cipher,  if  I  recol- 
lect rightly,  of  about  200  "  groups,"  was  being  deciphered. 
When  the  copy  was  handed  to  me  it  showed  that  Abeken 
had  drawn  up  and  signed  the  telegram  at  His  Majesty's  com- 
mand, and  I  read  it  out  to  my  guests,  whose  dejection  was 
so  great  that  they  turned  away  from  food  and  drink.  On  a 
repeated  examination  of  the  document  I  lingered  upon  the 
authorization  of  His  Majesty,  which  included  a  command, 
immediately  to  communicate  Benedetti's  fresh  demand  and 
its  rejection  both  to  our  ambassadors  and  to  the  press.  I 
put  a  few  questions  to  Moltke  as  to  the  extent  of  his  confi- 
dence in  the  state  of  our  preparations,  especially  as  to  the 
time  they  would  still  require  in  order  to  meet  this  sudden 
risk  of  war.  He  answered  that  if  there  was  to  be  war  he  ex- 
pected no  advantage  to  us  by  deferring  its  outbreak;  and 
even  if  we  should  not  be  strong  enough  at  first  to  protect  all 
the  territories  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  against  French 

69 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

invasion,  our  preparations  would  nevertheless  soon  over- 
take those  of  the  French,  while  at  a  later  period  this  advan- 
tage would  be  diminished;  he  regarded  a  rapid  outbreak  as, 
on  the  whole,  more  favorable  to  us  than  delay. 

I  made  use  of  the  royal  authorization,  communicated  to 
me  through  Abeken,  to  publish  the  contents  of  the  telegram; 
and  in  the  presence  of  my  two  guests  I  reduced  the  telegram, 
by  striking  out  words,  but  without  adding  or  altering,  to  the 
following  form:  "After  the  news  of  the  renunciation  of  the 
hereditary  Prince  of  Hohenzollern  had  been  officially  com- 
municated to  the  Imperial  Government  of  France  by  the 
Royal  Government  of  Spain,  the  French  Ambassador  at 
Ems  made  the  further  demand  to  His  Majesty  the  King 
that  he  would  authorize  him  to  telegraph  to  Paris  that  His 
Majesty  the  King  bound  himself  for  all  future  time  never 
again  to  give  his  consent  if  the  Hohenzollerns  should  renew 
their  candidature.  His  Majesty  the  King  thereupon  decided 
not  to  receive  the  French  Ambassador  again,  and  sent  to  tell 
him  through  the  aide-de-camp  on  duty  that  His  Majesty 
had  nothing  further  to  communicate  to  the  ambassador." 
The  difference  in  the  effect  of  the  abbreviated  text  of  the 
Ems  telegram  as  compared  with  that  produced  by  the  orig- 
inal was  not  the  result  of  stronger  words,  but  of  the  form, 
which  made  this  announcement  appear  decisive,  while 
Abeken's  version  would  only  have  been  regarded  as  a  frag- 
ment of  a  negotiation  still  pending,  and  to  be  continued  at 
Berlin. 

After  I  had  read  out  the  concentrated  edition  to  my  two 
guests,  Moltke  remarked:  "Now  it  has  a  different  ring;  it 
sounded  before  like  a  parley;  now  it  is  like  a  flourish  in 
answer  to  a  challenge."  I  went  on  to  explain:  "  If  in  execu- 
tion of  His  Majesty's  order  I  at  once  communicate  this  text, 
which  contains  no  alteration  in  or  addition  to  the  telegram, 
not  only  to  the  newspapers,  but  also  by  telegraph  to  all  our 
embassies,  it  will  be  known  in  Paris  before  midnight,  and 
not  only  on  account  of  its  contents,  but  also  on  account  of 
the  manner  of  its  distribution,  will  have  the  effect  of  a  red 
rag  upon  the  Gallic  bull.  Fight  we  must  if  we  do  not  want  to 
act  the  part  of  the  vanquished  without  a  battle.    Success, 

70 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

however,  essentially  depends  upon  the  impression  which  the 
origination  of  the  war  makes  upon  us  and  others;  it  is  impor- 
tant that  we  should  be  the  ones  attacked,  and  this  the  Gallic 
overweening  and  touchiness  will  do  for  us,  if  we  announce  in 
the  face  of  Europe,  so  far  as  we  can  without  the  speaking- 
tube  of  the  Reichstag,  that  we  fearlessly  meet  the  public 
threats  of  France." 

This  explanation  brought  about  in  the  two  generals  a 
revulsion  to  a  more  joyous  mood,  the  liveliness  of  which  sur- 
prised me.  They  had  suddenly  recovered  their  pleasure  in 
eating  and  drinking  and  spoke  in  a  more  cheerful  vein.  Roon 
said:  "Our  God  of  old  lives  still  and  will  not  let  us  perish  in 
disgrace."  Moltke  so  far  relinquished  his  passive  equanimity 
that,  glancing  up  joyously  toward  the  ceiling  and  abandon- 
ing his  usual  punctiliousness  of  speech,  he  smote  his  hand 
upon  his  breast  and  said:  "If  I  may  but  live  to  lead  our 
armies  in  such  a  war,  then  the  devil  may  come  directly 
afterwards  and  fetch  away  the  'old  carcass."  He  was  less 
robust  at  that  time  than  afterwards,  and  doubted  whether 
he  would  survive  the  hardships  of  the  campaign. 

How  keenly  he  wanted  to  put  in  practice  his  military  and 
strategic  tastes  and  ability  I  observed  not  only  on  this 
occasion,  but  also  in  the  days  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Bohemian  War.  In  both  cases  I  found  my  military  colleague 
in  the  King's  service  changed  from  his  usual  dry  and  silent 
habit,  cheerful,  lively,  I  might  even  say  merry. 

The  following  dispatch  of  Baron  Beyens,  dated 
July  26,  1914,  gives  what  is  probably  a  fairly  accurate 
view  of  the  military  opinion  in  Germany :  — 

To  justify  these  conclusions  I  must  remind  you  of  the 
opinion  which  prevails  in  the  German  General  Staff,  that 
war  with  France  and  Russia  is  unavoidable  and  near,  an 
opinion  which  the  Emperor  has  been  induced  to  share.  Such 
a  war,  ardently  desired  by  the  military  and  Pan-German 
party,  might  be  underaken  to-day,  as  this  party  think,  in 
circumstances  which  are  extremely  favorable  to  Germany, 
and  which  probably  will  not  again  present  themselves  for 

71 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

some  time.  Germany  has  finished  the  strengthening  of  her 
army  which  was  decreed  by  the  law  of  1912,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  she  feels  that  she  cannot  carry  on  indefinitely 
a  race  in  armaments  with  Russia  and  France  which  would 
end  in  her  ruin.  The  Wehrbeitrag  has  been  a  disappoint- 
ment for  the  Imperial  Government,  to  whom  it  has  demon- 
strated the  limits  of  the  national  wealth.  Russia  has  made 
the  mistake  of  making  a  display  of  her  strength  before  hav- 
ing finished  her  military  reorganization.  That  strength  will 
not  be  formidable  for  several  years:  at  the  present  moment 
it  lacks  the  railway  lines  necessary  for  its  deployment.  As 
to  France,  M.  Charles  Humbert  has  revealed  her  deficiency 
in  guns  of  large  caliber,  but  apparently  it  is  this  arm  that 
will  decide  the  fate  of  battles.  For  the  rest,  England,  which 
during  the  last  two  years  Germany  has  been  trying,  not 
without  some  success,  to  detach  from  France  and  Russia,  is 
paralyzed  by  internal  dissensions  and  her  Irish  quarrels. 

An  extremely  judicial  analysis  is  made  by  M.  P. 
Price  in  his  book,  "The  Diplomatic  History  of  the 
War"  (Scribner's,  1915),  as  follows:  — 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  evidence  to  the  effect  that 
during  the  negotiations  after  the  Austrian  note  to  Servia, 
Germany,  however  stupidly  and  supinely  she  handled  the 
Austro-Serviah  dispute,  was  fully  alive  to  the  danger  to 
Europe  of  a  Russo-Austrian  conflict.  Thus  the  telegrams 
passing  between  the  London,  Berlin,  St.  Petersburg,  and 
Paris  Foreign  Offices  show  that  although  Germany  refused 
Sir  Edward  Grey's  suggestion  of  a  four  power  ambassadorial 
conference  in  London,  nevertheless  she  supported  the  medi- 
ation of  four  powers  not  immediately  concerned  at  Vienna 
and  St.  Petersburg,  with  a  view  to  inducing  Austria  and 
Russia  to  come  to  terms  with  each  other.  Indeed,  Germany 
was  on  more  than  one  occasion  the  means  of  conveying  to 
Austria  proposals  concerning  the  need  of  moderation  in 
Vienna  and  about  the  guarantees  which  Servia  could  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  give.  (British  White  Book,  Nos.  18, 95, 
98.)   The  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  Austria  by  Germany 

78 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

during  the  last  few  days  of  negotiations  is  also  seen  in  the 
German  "  Denkschrift."  In  addition  to  these,  numerous 
British  press  correspondents  in  Berlin  and  St.  Petersburg, 
between  July  25  and  30,  show  that  Germany,  so  far  from 
being  an  instigator,  was  doing  all  she  could,  having  regard 
to  the  difficult  position  in  which  she  was  placed,  to  make  her 
ally  come  to  terms  with  Russia. 

Germany's  great  initial  blunder  was  that  she  refused  to 
regard  the  Austro-Servian  dispute  as  one  that  concerned  any 
other  but  those  two  countries,  and  would  not  recognize  the 
claim  of  Russia  to  be  consulted  about  the  fate  of  Servia. 
Hence  her  interpretation  of  four  power  mediation  was  not 
the  same  as  Russia's.  She  wanted  mediation  to  aim  at  secur- 
ing for  Austria  a  "  free  hand."  Russia  wanted  mediation 
which  would  give  her  a  chance  of  settling  the  Servian  ques- 
tion according  to  her  ideas. 

I  had  a  talk  with  Mr.  A.  G.  Gardiner,  editor  of  the 
London  "Daily  News,"  as  to  some  statements  he  made 
about  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  and  Sir  Edward  Grey. 
He  assured  me  that  he  had  sure  sources  of  information, 
as  to  which  he  said  (I  quote  Mr.  Gardiner's  exact 
words) :  — 

It  is  said,  on  such  high  authority  that  the  statement  is 
entitled  to  respect,  that  on  the  fatal  Saturday  when  he  signed 
the  declaration  of  war  against  Russia  the  Kaiser,  having 
written  his  signature,  threw  the  pen  across  the  table  and 
said,  to  the  triumphant  soldiers  around  him,  "  Gentlemen, 
you  will  live  to  regret  this." 

It  is  the  opinion  of  those  in  this  country  most  intimate 
with  the  inner  history  of  the  diplomatic  struggle  that  cul- 
minated in  the  war  that  both  the  Kaiser  and  his  Chancellor 
wanted  peace. 

"  Let  us  be  just  to  Bethmann-Hollweg,"  said  a  distin- 
guished Foreign  Office  representative  when  the  conduct  of 
the  Chancellor  was  being  criticized.  "  You  see  only  his  fail- 
ure.   We  have  seen  when  he  has  not  failed  —  when  he  has 

73 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

fought  for  peace  and  won.  He  fought  for  peace  this  time 
but  lost." 

A  change  came  when  Baron  Marschall  von  Bieberstein 
superseded  Metternich,  and  when  a  little  later  (on  the 
Baron's  death)  Prince  Lichnowsky  came,  with  his  gentle 
manner  and  obvious  frankness  of  purpose.  It  seemed  then, 
especially  with  the  successful  cooperation  of  England  and 
Germany  during  the  Balkan  wars,  that  the  danger-point  in 
the  relations  of  the  two  peoples  was  passed,  and  Sir  Edward 
Grey  was  clearly  moving  with  strong  hope  toward  an  under- 
standing with  Germany. 

Sir  Edward  Grey's  efforts  for  peace  during  the  last  fatal 
week  of  July  are  on  record,  and  no  one  who  saw  him  in  the 
House  during  those  thrilling  days  can  doubt  either  his  sur- 
prise at  the  sudden  blow  or  his  passionate  desire  to  save 
Europe  from  the  coming  disaster.  When  some  one  met  him 
after  his  speech  of  August  3,  and  rather  ineptly  offered  his 
congratulations,  he  turned  away  with  the  remark,  "This  is 
the  saddest  day  of  my  life."  I  am  told  at  the  Cabinet  council 
next  morning  more  than  one  minister  broke  down  under  the 
dreadful  strain,  and  that  Sir  Edward  Grey  was  among  them. 
But,  indeed,  there  were  more  tears  shed  in  England  in  those 
tragic  days  than  ever  before.  And  they  were  not  tears  of 
weakness  but  of  unspeakable  grief. 

Lord  Haldane  told  me  that  for  the  first  two  months 
of  the  war  he  saw  Sir  Edward  Grey  almost  daily.  Sir 
Edward  Grey  made  his  home  at  Lord  Haldane's  house. 
Lord  Haldane  told  me  that  during  those  months  Sir 
Edward  Grey  lived  in  Gethsemane. 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  has  been  continually  at- 
tacked in  Germany  for  his  pre-war  pacific  policy.  An 
anonymous  pamphleteer  made  these  charges  which 
were  finally  taken  up  in  the  Reichstag :  — 

Concerning  the  activities  of  the  Chancellor  immediately 
before  the  war,  known  to  us  from  published  dispatches  and 
notes,  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak  in  detail.   It  is  plain  that, 

74 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

taken  as  a  whole,  his  untiring  efforts  up  to  the  very  last  hour, 
regardless  of  military  happenings,  were  directed  to  prevent 
at  any  price  the  long  unavoidable  war.  In  vain  were  the 
warnings  of  the  General  Staff,  the  Minister  of  War,  and  men 
of  authority  in  the  naval  department  pointed  to  the  neces- 
sity of  mobilization.  They  succeeded  in  half  convincing  the 
Emperor  of  its  absolute  necessity.  On  Thursday,  July  30, 
the  afternoon  police  papers  and  the  Berlin  "  Lokal  Anzeiger  " 
published  the  fact  of  the  mobilization,  but  the  interference 
of  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  served  to  nullify  this  decisive 
action. 

If  ever  there  was  a  time  in  a  decisive  hour  when  the  task 
of  responsible  military  leaders  has  been  rendered  nearly 
impossible,  it  was  before  the  outbreak  of  this  war,  when 
Germany  faced  a  fight  for  her  very  existence,  and  that  is  the 
fault  of  her  leading  statesman.  No  condemnation  can  be 
severe  enough  for  much  unnecessary  blood  that  has  been 
shed  due  to  the  policy  of  this  political  sleepwalker. 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  replied  to  this  attack  by  a 
speech  in  the  Reichstag  which  is  reported  in  a  Berlin 
dispatch  by  the  Associated  Press :  — 

Berlin,  June  5,  1916.  —  One  of  the  most  stirring  pass- 
ages of  the  speech  came  when  the  Chancellor  replied  to  a 
pamphleteer's  charge  that  in  the  opening  days  of  the  war  he 
had  believed  England  would  have  remained  Germany's 
friend,  or  at  least  neutral,  and  that  he  had  wasted  three  days 
parleying  with  England,  three  days  which  meant  an  enor- 
mous prolongation  of  the  war  because  the  first  blow  was  not 
struck  promptly  enough. 

I  know  that  my  attempts  at  an  understanding  with 
England  [said  the  Chancellor]  are  my  capital  offense, 
but  what  was  Germany's  position  prior  to  the  war? 
France  and  Russia  were  united  in  an  indissoluble  alli- 
ance. There  was  a  strong  anti-German  party  in  Russia 
and  an  influential  and  growing  section  in  France  which 
was  urging  revenge  and  war.  Russia  could  be  held  in 
check  only  if  the  hope  of  English  aid  was  successfully 

75 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

taken  from  them.  They  would  then  have  never  ven- 
tured on  war.  If  I  wished  to  work  against  war  I  had  to 
attempt  to  enter  into  relationships  with  England. 

I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  conduct,  even  though  it 
proved  abortive.  He  who  on  that  account  charges  me 
with  being  the  cause  of  the  world-catastrophe,  with  its 
hecatombs  of  human  sacrifices,  may  make  his  accusa- 
tion before  God.  I  shall  await  God's  judgment  calmly. 
[Extract.] 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Von  Bethmann-Hollwog, 
Herr  Zimmermann,  and  the  Kaiser  were  opposed  to 
war.  The  military  chiefs  based  their  decision  on  the 
dangers  arising  from  Russia's  mobilization. 

On  the  other  hand  [writes  G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  referring 
to  Russia's  mobilization],  it  must  be  remembered  that  in 
1909  Austria  had  mobilized  against  Servia  and  Montenegro, 
and  in  1912-13  Russia  and  Austria  had  mobilized  against 
each  other  without  war  ensuing  in  either  case.  Moreover, 
in  view  of  the  slowness  of  Russian  mobilization,  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  a  day  or  two  would  make  the  difference  be- 
tween security  and  ruin  to  Germany.  However,  it  is  possible 
that  the  Kaiser  was  so  advised  by  his  soldiers,  and  genuinely 
believed  the  country  to  be  in  danger.  We  do  not  definitely 
know.  What  we  do  know  is,  that  it  was  the  German  ultima- 
tum that  precipitated  the  war. 

We  are  informed,  however,  by  Baron  Bey  ens  that 
even  at  the  last  moment  the  German  Foreign  Office 
made  one  more  effort  for  peace.  Baron  Beyens  says :  — 

As  no  reply  had  been  received  from  St.  Petersburg  by 
noon  the  next  day  (after  the  dispatch  of  the  German  ulti- 
matum), MM.  de  Jagow  and  Zimmermann  (I  have  it  from 
the  latter)  hurried  to  the  Chancellor  and  the  Kaiser  to  pre- 
vent the  issue  of  the  order  for  general  mobilization,  and 
to  persuade  His  Majesty  to  wait  till  the  following  day.  It 
was  the  last  effort  of  their  dying  pacifism,  or  the  last  awak- 

76 


JULY  23  TO  AUGUST  4,   1914 

ening  of  their  conscience.  Their  efforts  were  broken  against 
the  irreducible  obstinacy  of  the  Minister  of  War  and  the 
army  chiefs,  who  represented  to  the  Kaiser  the  disastrous 
consequences  of  a  delay  of  twenty-four  hours. 


CHAPTER  V 

WHY   DID   ENGLAND   ENTER   THE  WAR? 

There  is  such  a  strong  impression  that  this  war  is  at 
bottom  a  war  between  England  and  Germany  that  one 
forgets  that  the  cause  of  the  war  was  very  remote 
from  England. 

Sir  Edward  Grey,  in  a  dispatch,  July  24,  to  the 
British  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  said :  — 

The  merits  of  the  dispute  between  Austria  and  Servia 
were  not  the  concern  of  His  Majesty's  Government. 

And  in  a  dispatch,  July  27,  to  the  British  Ambassa- 
dor at  Vienna,  Sir  Edward  Grey  reports  a  conversation 
with  Count  Mensdorff,  in  which  he  said :  — 

If  they  could  make  war  on  Servia  and  at  the  same  time 
satisfy  Russia,  well  and  good;  but,  if  not,  the  consequences 
would  be  incalculable. 

England's  interest  in  the  Servian  question  was 
wholly  as  it  might  affect  the  peace  of  Europe. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  England  was  allied  with 
Japan  and  Portugal.  She  had  a  naval  agreement  with 
France.  Inasmuch  as  France  had  massed  her  navy  in 
the  Mediterranean  so  that  England  might  concen- 
trate her  fleet  in  the  North  Sea,  England  had  agreed, 
in  case  France  became  involved  in  war,  to  protect  her 
northern  coasts.  The  actual  relation  of  England  to 
Russia  and  France  is  clearly  stated  by  Prince  von 
Biilow  in  the  new  edition  of  his  book,  "Imperial 
Germany."  In  his  earlier  edition  he  said:  — 

78 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

Owing  to  her  alliance  with  France,  and  the  complications 
in  the  East,  Russia  has  often  supported  the  Anglo-French 
Entente,  so  that  we  are  justified  in  speaking  of  a  Triple 
Entente  as  a  counterpart  to  the  Triple  Alliance. 

In  his  new  edition,  published  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  he  adds :  — 

However,  it  was  not  till  the  outbreak  of  war  that  the 
Triple  Entente  became  a  solid  coalition.  As  late  as  April  24, 
1914,  Baron  Beyens,  the  Belgian  Minister  in  Berlin,  stated 
in  connection  with  the  rumor  that  the  Russian  Ambassador 
in  Paris,  M.  Iswolski,  was  to  be  transferred  to  London,  that 
M.  Iswolski  would  be  able  to  convince  himself  there  that 
public  opinion  in  England  had  not  the  slightest  desire  to  see 
England  lose  her  freedom  of  action  by  a  formal  treaty  which 
would  bind  her  fate  to  that  of  Russia  and  France.  It  was  the 
London  Protocol  of  September  5,  1914,  that  changed  the 
hitherto  more  or  less  loose  connection  between  the  three 
powers  into  a  close  alliance. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  it  was  an  anxious  and 
terrible  question  in  France  as  to  what  England  would 
do.  And  as  the  days  passed  and  France  faced  her 
critical  hour,  the  uncertainty  as  to  England  became 
agonizing. 

The  general  feeling  the  world  over  of  those  who 
favored  France  and  were  friendly  to  Great  Britain  was 
expressed  by  Admiral  Mahan  during  the  days  after 
war  was  declared,  and  while  England  still  remained 
out.  I  quote  from  a  dispatch  to  the  London  "Times,'* 
dated  New  York,  August  3,  1914:  — 

In  a  highly  important  interview  to-night,  Rear-Admiral 
Mahan  declared  that  England  must  at  once  throw  her  pre- 
ponderating fleet  against  Germany  for  the  chief  purpose  of 
maintaining  her  own  position  as  a  world-power.  For  Eng- 
land, Admiral  Mahan  said,  it  was  a  question,  if  she  remained 

79 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

out  of  the  war,  of  sacrificing  her  empire  in  the  next  genera- 
tion to  the  interest  of  this  generation. 

Knowing  from  past  experience  how  the  matter  must  be 
viewed  by  Russia,  it  is  incredible  that  Austria  would  have 
ventured  on  the  ultimatum  unless  she  was  assured  before- 
hand of  the  consent  of  Germany  to  it.  The  moment  was 
auspicious  for  striking  down  France  and  Russia  before  they 
regained  their  full  strength. 

Great  Britain,  as  the  third  member  of  the  Entente,  finds 
herself  in  the  position  of  Prussia  in  1805,  when  she  permitted 
Napoleon  to  strike  down  Austria  unaided  and  was  herself 
struck  down  the  following  year  at  Jena,  or  in  that  of  France 
in  1866,  when  she  stood  by  while  Prussia  crushed  Austria 
and  was  herself  overwhelmed  in  1870.  Germany's  procedure 
is  to  overwhelm  at  once  by  concentrated  preparation  and 
impetuous  momentum. 

In  my  judgment  a  right  appreciation  of  the  situation 
should  determine  Great  Britain  to  declare  war  at  once, 
otherwise  her  Entente  engagements,  whatever  the  letter, 
will  be  in  spirit  violated,  and  she  will  earn  the  entire  distrust 
of  all  probable  future  allies. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Haldane  mission  of 
1912  failed  because  the  German  Government  wanted 
a  treaty,  by  which  the  British  Government  believed 
that  "while  Germany  in  case  of  a  European  conflict 
would  have  remained  free  to  support  her  friends, 
England  would  have  been  forbidden  to  raise  a  finger 
in  defense  of  hers." 

On  Saturday  the  25th  of  July,  1914,  the  Austrian 
note  to  Servia  was  known  in  the  chancelleries  of 
Europe.  On  the  following  Wednesday,  July  29,  we 
have  from  Sir  Edward  Grey  the  first  intimation  as 
to  the  possibility  of  England's  participation  in  the 
war. 

To  M.  Cambon,  the  French  Ambassador  in  London, 
he  said :  — 

80 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

Sir  Edward  Grey  to  Sir  F.  Bertie,  British  Ambassador  at  Paris 

Foreign  Office,  July  29,  191&. 

Sir: 

After  telling  M.  Cambon  to-day  how  grave  the  situation 
seemed  to  be,  I  told  him  that  I  meant  to  tell  the  German 
Ambassador  to-day  that  he  must  not  be  misled  by  the 
friendly  tone  of  our  conversations  into  any  sense  of  false 
security  that  we  should  stand  aside  if  all  the  efforts  to  pre- 
serve the  peace,  which  we  were  now  making  in  common  with 
Germany,  failed.  But  I  went  on  to  say  to  M.  Cambon  that 
I  thought  it  necessary  to  tell  him  also  that  public  opinion 
here  approached  the  present  difficulty  from  a  quite  different 
point  of  view  from  that  taken  during  the  difficulty  as  to 
Morocco  a  few  years  ago.  ...  In  the  present  case  the  dispute 
between  Austria  and  Servia  was  not  one  in  which  we  felt 
called  to  take  a  hand.  Even  if  the  question  became  one 
between  Austria  and  Russia  we  should  not  feel  called  upon 
to  take  a  hand  in  it.  .  .  .  If  Germany  became  involved  and 
France  became  involved,  we  had  not  made  up  our  minds 
what  we  should  do;  it  was  a  case  that  we  should  have  to 
consider.  France  would  then  have  been  drawn  into  a  quarrel 
which  was  not  hers,  but  in  which,  owing  to  her  alliance,  her 
honor  and  interest  obliged  her  to  engage.  We  were  free  from 
engagements,  and  we  should  have  to  decide  what  British 
interests  required  us  to  do.  I  thought  it  necessary  to  say 
that,  because,  as  he  knew,  we  were  taking  all  precautions 
with  regard  to  our  fleet,  and  I  was  about  to  warn  Prince 
Lichnowsky  not  to  count  on  our  standing  aside,  but  it 
would  not  be  fair  that  I  should  let  M.  Cambon  be  misled 
into  supposing  that  this  meant  that  we  had  decided  what  to 
do  in  a  contingency  that  I  still  hoped  might  not  arise. 

M.  Cambon  said  that  I  had  explained  the  situation  very 
clearly.  He  understood  it  to  be  that  in  a  Balkan  quarrel, 
and  in  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between  Teuton  and  Slav, 
we  should  not  feel  called  to  intervene;  should  other  issues  be 
raised,  and  Germany  and  France  become  involved,  so  that 
the  question  became  one  of  the  hegemony  of  Europe,  we 
should  then  decide  what  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  do.    He 

81 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

seemed  quite  prepared  for  this  announcement,  and  made  no 
criticism  upon  it. 

I  quote  so  fully  because  it  is  such  a  clear  exposition 
of  England's  attitude  toward  French  interests.  On 
the  same  day  Sir  Edward  Grey  made  a  statement  on 
similar  lines  to  the  German  Ambassador  in  London, 
discussing  the  European  situation  with  reference  to 
England's  position.1 

I  give  the  complete  dispatch,  No.  89 :  — 

Sir  E.  Grey  to  Sir  E.  Goschen,  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin 

Foreign  Office,  July  29,  191&. 

Sir: 

After  speaking  to  the  German  Ambassador  this  afternoon 
about  the  European  situation,  I  said  that  I  wished  to  say  to 
him,  in  a  quite  private  and  friendly  way,  something  that 
was  on  my  mind.  The  situation  was  very  grave.  While  it 
was  restricted  to  the  issues  at  present  actually  involved  we 
had  no  thought  of  interfering  in  it.  But  if  Germany  became 
involved  in  it,  and  then  France,  the  issue  might  be  so  great 
that  it  would  involve  all  European  interests;  and  I  did  not 
wish  him  to  be  misled  by  the  friendly  tone  of  our  conversa- 
tion —  which  I  hoped  would  continue  —  into  thinking  that 
we  should  stand  aside. 

He  said  that  he  quite  understood  this,  but  he  asked 
whether  I  meant  that  we  should,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, intervene? 

I  replied  that  I  did  not  wish  to  say  that,  or  to  use  anything 
that  was  like  a  threat  or  an  attempt  to  apply  pressure  by 
saying  that,  if  things  became  worse,  we  should  intervene. 
There  would  be  no  question  of  our  intervening  if  Germany 
was  not  involved,  or  even  if  France  was  not  involved.  But 
we  knew  very  well,  that  if  the  issue  did  become  such  that  we 
thought  British  interests  required  us  to  intervene,  we  must 
intervene  at  once,  and  the  decision  would  have  to  be  very 

1  British  White  Book,  No.  88. 

82 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

rapid,  just  as  the  decisions  of  other  powers  had  to  be.  I 
hoped  that  the  friendly  tone  of  our  conversations  would 
continue  as  at  present,  and  that  I  should  be  able  to  keep  as 
closely  in  touch  with  the  German  Government  in  working 
for  peace.  But  if  we  failed  in  our  efforts  to  keep  the  peace, 
and  if  the  issue  spread  so  that  it  involved  practically  every 
European  interest,  I  did  not  wish  to  be  open  to  any  reproach 
from  him  that  the  friendly  tone  of  all  our  conversations  had 
misled  him  or  his  Government  into  supposing  that  we  should 
not  take  action,  and  to  the  reproach  that,  if  they  had  not 
been  so  misled,  the  course  of  things  might  have  been  dif- 
ferent. 

The  German  Ambassador  took  no  exception  to  what  I  had 
said;  indeed,  he  told  me  that  it  accorded  with  what  he  had 
already  given  in  Berlin  as  his  view  of  the  situation. 

I  am,  &c. 

E.  Grey. 

The  most  ominous  dispatch  up  to  this  time  is  one 
dated,  the  same  day,  Berlin,  July  29,  from  the  British 
Ambassador  in  Berlin  to  Sir  Edward  Grey.  It  reports 
the  interview  with  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  after  the 
fateful  meeting  at  Potsdam :  — 

Sir  E.  Goschen,  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  to  Sir  E.  Grey 

(Received  July  29) 

(Telegraphic.)  Berlin,  July  29,  19U. 

I  was  asked  to  call  upon  the  Chancellor  to-night.  His 
Excellency  had  just  returned  from  Potsdam. 

He  said  that  should  Austria  be  attacked  by  Russia  a 
European  conflagration  might,  he  feared,  become  inevitable, 
owing  to  Germany's  obligations  as  Austria's  ally,  in  spite  of 
his  continued  efforts  to  maintain  peace.  He  then  proceeded 
to  make  the  following  strong  bid  for  British  neutrality.  He 
said  that  it  was  clear,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  judge  the  main 
principle  which  governed  British  policy,  that  Great  Britain 
would  never  stand  by  and  allow  France  to  be  crushed  in  any 

83 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

conflict  there  might  be.  That,  however,  was  not  the  object 
at  which  Germany  aimed.  Provided  that  neutrality  of  Great 
Britain  were  certain,  every  assurance  would  be  given  to  the 
British  Government  that  the  Imperial  Government  aimed 
at  no  territorial  acquisitions  at  the  expense  of  France  should 
they  prove  victorious  in  any  war  that  might  ensue. 

I  questioned  His  Excellency  about  the  French  colonies, 
and  he  said  that  he  was  unable  to  give  a  similar  undertaking 
in  that  respect.  As  regards  Holland,  however,  His  Excellency 
said  that,  so  long  as  Germany's  adversaries  respected  the 
integrity  and  neutrality  of  the  Netherlands,  Germany  was 
ready  to  give  His  Majesty's  Government  an  assurance  that 
she  would  do  likewise.  It  depended  upon  the  action  of  France 
what  operations  Germany  might  be  forced  to  enter  upon 
in  Belgium,  but  when  the  war  was  over,  Belgian  integrity 
would  be  respected  if  she  had  not  sided  against  Germany. 

His  Excellency  ended  by  saying  that  ever  since  he  had 
been  Chancellor  the  object  of  his  policy  had  been,  as  you 
were  aware,  to  bring  about  an  understanding  with  England; 
he  trusted  that  these  assurances  might  form  the  basis  of  that 
understanding  which  he  so  much  desired.  He  had  in  mind  a 
general  neutrality  agreement  between  England  and  Ger- 
many, though  it  was  of  course  at  the  present  moment  too 
early  to  discuss  details,  and  an  assurance  of  British  neutral- 
ity in  the  conflict  which  present  crisis  might  possibly  pro- 
duce, would  enable  him  to  look  forward  to  realization  of  his 
desire. 

To  this  telegram  Sir  Edward  Grey  replied  on  Thurs- 
day, July  30,  1914:  — 

Sir  E.  Grey  to  Sir  E.  Goschen,  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin 
(Telegraphic.)  Foreign  Office,  July  30,  19U. 

Your  telegram  of  29th  July. 

His  Majesty's  Government  cannot  for  a  moment  entertain 
the  Chancellor's  proposal  that  they  should  bind  themselves 
to  neutrality  on  such  terms. 

What  he  asks  us  in  effect  is  to  engage  to  stand  by  while 

Si 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

French  colonies  are  taken  and  France  is  beaten  so  long  as 
Germany  does  not  take  French  territory  as  distinct  from  the 
colonies. 

From  the  material  point  of  view  such  a  proposal  is  unac- 
ceptable, for  France,  without  further  territory  in  Europe 
being  taken  from  her,  could  be  so  crushed  as  to  lose  her  posi- 
tion as  a  great  power,  and  become  subordinate  to  German 
policy. 

Altogether  apart  from  that,  it  would  be  a  disgrace  for  us 
to  make  this  bargain  with  Germany  at  the  expense  of  France, 
a  disgrace  from  which  the  good  name  of  this  country  would 
never  recover. 

The  Chancellor  also  in  effect  asks  us  to  bargain  away 
whatever  obligation  or  interest  we  have  as  regards  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium.  We  could  not  entertain  that  bargain 
either. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  British  Government 
could  have  taken  a  different  stand  on  this  point. 

In  the  same  dispatch  Sir  Edward  Grey  makes  a  very 
strong  bid  for  peace  in  these  words :  — 

And  I  will  say  this:  If  the  peace  of  Europe  can  be  pre- 
served, and  the  present  crisis  safely  passed,  my  own 
endeavor  will  be  to  promote  some  arrangement  to  which 
Germany  could  be  a  party,  by  which  she  could  be  assured 
that  no  aggressive  or  hostile  policy  would  be  pursued  against 
her  or  her  allies  by  France,  Russia,  and  ourselves,  jointly  or 
separately.  I  have  desired  this  and  worked  for  it,  as  far  as  I 
could,  through  the  last  Balkan  crisis,  and,  Germany  having 
a  corresponding  object,  our  relations  sensibly  improved.  The 
idea  has  hitherto  been  too  Utopian  to  form  the  subject  of 
definite  proposals,  but  if  this  present  crisis,  so  much  more 
acute  than  any  that  Europe  has  gone  through  for  genera- 
tions, be  safely  passed,  I  am  hopeful  that  the  relief  and 
reaction  which  will  follow  may  make  possible  some  more 
definite  rapprochement  between  the  powers  than  has  been 
possible  hitherto. 

85 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

On  the  same  day,  July  30,  Sir  Edward  Grey  tele- 
graphs to  the  British  Ambassador  in  Berlin,  this  warn- 
ing to  Germany :  — 

I  have  warned  Prince  Lichnowsky  that  Germany  must 
not  count  upon  our  standing  aside  in  all  circumstances. 

Again,  on  the  same  day,  July  30,  Sir  Edward  Grey 
makes  reference  to  a  letter  he  had  written  two  years 
ago  to  the  French  Ambassador  in  London,  M.  Cambon, 
*'in  which  we  agreed  that  if  the  peace  of  Europe  was 
seriously  threatened,  we  wot  Id  discuss  what  we  were 
prepared  to  do." 

Still  Sir  Edward  Grey  persisted  in  his  efforts  for 
peace,  and  on  Friday,  July  31,  he  telegraphed  to  the 
British  Ambassador  in  Berlin  a  dispatch  in  which  he 
used  these  words :  — 

I  said  to  German  Ambassador  this  morning  that  if  Ger- 
many could  get  any  reasonable  proposal  put  forward,  which 
made  it  clear  that  Germany  and  Austria  were  striving  to 
preserve  European  peace,  and  that  Russia  and  France  would 
be  unreasonable  if  they  rejected  it,  I  would  support  it  at  St. 
Petersburg  and  Paris,  and  go  the  length  of  saying  that  if 
Russia  and  France  would  not  accept  it  His  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  conse- 
quences; but,  otherwise,  I  told  German  Ambassador  that  if 
France  became  involved  we  should  be  drawn  in.   [Extract.] 

This  was  the  nearest  approach  to  a  threat  that  Sir 
Edward  Grey  used.  He  refused  to  encourage  Russia 
and  France.  He  worked  solely  for  peace. 

Germany  and  Austria  failed  to  understand  Russia. 

In  a  dispatch,  July  26,  1914,  from  the  British  Am- 
bassador at  Vienna  to  Sir  Edward  Grey,  reporting  a 
conversation  with  the  German  Ambassador  at  Vienna, 
he  says :  — 

86 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

According  to  confident  belief  of  German  Ambassador, 
Russia  will  keep  quiet  during  chastisement  of  Servia,  which 
Austria-Hungary  is  resolved  to  inflict,  having  received 
assurances  that  no  Servian  territory  will  be  annexed  by 
Austria-Hungary.  .  .  .  The  Russian  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs  would  not,  His  Excellency  thought,  be  so  impru- 
dent as  to  take  a  step  which  would  probably  result  in 
many  frontier  questions  in  which  Russia  is  interested,  such 
as  Swedish,  Polish,  Ruthene,  Rumanian,  and  Persian  ques- 
tions, being  brought  into  the  melting-pot.  France,  too,  was 
not  at  all  in  a  condition  for  facing  a  war. 

And  on  July  28  the  Austrian  Ambassador  in  Berlin 
informed  Sir  Edward  Goschen  "that  a  general  war 
was  most  unlikely,  as  Russia  neither  wanted  nor  was 
in  a  position  to  make  war."  The  British  Ambassador 
believed  that  the  same  opinion  was  shared  by  many 
people  in  Berlin. 

Sir  R.  Rodd,  British  Ambassador  in  Rome,  in  a 
dispatch,  July  29,  said  that  the  Italian  Foreign  Min- 
ister stated  "that  there  seemed  to  be  a  difficulty  in 
making  Germany  believe  that  Russia  was  in  earnest.*' 

Baron  Beyens  records  a  conversation  with  his  col- 
league, M.  Bollati,  the  Italian  Ambassador  at  Berlin 
in  which  the  latter  took  the  view  that 

At  Vienna  as  at  Berlin  they  were  persuaded  that  Russia, 
in  spite  of  the  official  assurances  exchanged  quite  recently 
between  the  Tsar  and  M.  Poincare,  as  to  the  complete 
preparations  of  the  armies  of  the  two  allies,  was  not  in  a 
position  to  sustain  a  European  war  and  would  not  dare  to 
plunge  into  so  perilous  an  adventure. 

Baron  Beyens  continues :  — 

At  Berlin  the  opinion  that  Russia  was  unable  to  face  a 
European  war  prevailed  not  only  in  the  official  world  and 
in  society,  but  among  all  the  manufacturers  who  specialized 

87 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

in  the  construction  of  armaments.  M.  Krupp,  the  best  qual- 
ified among  them  to  express  an  opinion,  announced  on  the 
28th  July,  at  a  table  next  mine  at  the  Hotel  Bristol,  that  the 
Russian  artillery  was  neither  good  nor  complete,  while  that 
of  the  German  army  had  never  been  of  such  superior  quality. 
It  would  be  folly  on  the  part  of  Russia,  the  great  maker  of 
guns  concluded,  to  dare  to  make  war  on  Germany  and 
Austria  under  these  conditions. 

Austria-Hungary,  backed  by  Germany,  evidently 
felt  that  the  chances  for  war  with  Russia  were  slight. 

The  extremely  well-informed  journalist,  Dr.  E.  J. 
Dillon,  telegraphed  on  August  4  to  the  London  "Daily 
Telegraph"  the  beliefs  in  Vienna  in  these  words:  — 

Even  the  Government  here  did  not  expect  that  events 
would  take  the  course  which  all  Europe  is  now  deploring. 
They  certainly  recognized  it  as  a  contingency  to  be  reckoned 
with,  and  they  accordingly  prepared  for  it.  But  they  en- 
tertained hopes  that  a  conflict  would  be  restricted  to  the 
Balkan  Peninsula. 

In  his  speech  before  the  Reichstag  on  December  2, 
1914,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  makes  this  statement :  — 

In  spite  of  all  protestations  of  peace  London  gave  it  to  be 
understood  in  Petrograd  that  she  was  taking  her  stand  on  the 
side  of  France  and  Russia.  This  is  proved  clearly  and  incon- 
testably  by  the  publications  of  the  various  Cabinets,  and 
especially  by  that  of  the  English  Blue  Book  itself.  Then, 
indeed,  it  was  impossible  to  hold  things  back  in  Petro- 
grad. 

On  this  question  we  possess  a  witness  who  is  entirely 
above  suspicion,  the  report  of  the  Belgian  Charge  d' Affaires 
in  Petrograd,  written  on  July  30.  He  reports:  "To-day  in 
Petrograd  the  people  are  firmly  convinced,  indeed  they  have 
assurances,  that  England  will  stand  by  France.  This  support 
has  an  extraordinary  influence,  and  has  done  not  a  little  to 
gain  the  upper  hand  for  the  war  party." 

88 


WHY  DID   ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

If  the  statement  of  July  30,  of  the  Belgian  Charge 
d'Affaires  is  correct,  how  can  we  account  for  this  letter 
from  the  President  of  the  French  Republic  to  King 
George? 

Letter  from  the  French  President  to  King  George 

Paris,  July  31,  1914. 

From  all  the  information  which  reaches  us,  it  would  seem 
that  war  would  be  inevitable  if  Germany  were  convinced 
that  the  British  Government  would  not  intervene  in  a  con- 
flict in  which  France  might  be  engaged;  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
Germany  were  convinced  that  the  entente  cordiale  would  be 
affirmed,  in  case  of  need,  even  to  the  extent  of  taking  the 
field  side  by  side,  there  would  be  the  greatest  chance  that 
peace  would  remain  unbroken.    [Extract.! 

Or  how  can  we  account  for  the  reply  from  King 
George  to  the  French  President? 

Letter  from  King  George  to  the  French  President 

Buckingham  Palace,  August  1,  1914. 

It  would  be  a  source  of  real  satisfaction  to  me  if  our 
united  efforts  were  to  meet  with  success,  and  I  am  still  not 
without  hope  that  the  terrible  events  which  seem  so  near 
may  be  averted. 

I  am  personally  using  my  best  endeavors  with  the  Emper- 
ors of  Russia  and  Germany  towards  finding  some  solution 
by  which  actual  military  operations  may  at  any  rate  be  post- 
poned, and  time  be  thus  given  for  calm  discussion  between 
the  powers.  I  intend  to  prosecute  these  efforts  without  inter- 
mission so  long  as  any  hope  remains  of  an  amicable  settle- 
ment. 

As  to  the  attitude  of  my  country,  events  are  changing  so 
rapidly  that  it  is  difficult  to  forecast  future  developments; 
but  you  may  be  assured  that  my  Government  will  continue 

89 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

to  discuss  freely  and  frankly  any  point  which  might  arise  of 
interest  to  our  two  nations  with  M.  Cambon. 

Believe  me, 

M.  le  President, 
(Signed)  George  R.I. 

The  actual  situation  is  given  in  the  following:  — 

Sir  Edward  Grey  to  Sir  F.  Bertie,  British  Ambassador  at  Paris 

Foreign  Office,  July  31,  1914. 
Sir: 

M.  Cambon  referred  to-day  to  a  telegram  that  had  been 
shown  to  Sir  Arthur  Nicolson  [British  Under-Secretary  of 
State  for  Foreign  Affairs]  this  morning  from  the  French 
Ambassador  in  Berlin,  saying  that  it  was  the  uncertainty 
with  regard  to  whether  we  would  intervene  which  was  the 
encouraging  element  in  Berlin,  and  that,  if  we  would  only 
declare  definitely  on  the  side  of  Russia  and  France,  it  would 
decide  the  German  attitude  in  favor  of  peace. 

M.  Cambon  then  asked  me  for  my  reply  to  what  he  had 
said  yesterday. 

I  said  that  we  had  come  to  the  conclusion,  in  the  Cabinet 
to-day,  that  we  could  not  give  any  pledge  at  the  present 
time.  Though  we  should  have  to  put  our  policy  before  Par- 
liament, we  could  not  pledge  Parliament  in  advance.  Up  to 
the  present  moment,  we  did  not  feel,  and  public  opinion  did 
not  feel,  that  any  treaties  or  obligations  of  this  country  were 
involved.  Further  developments  might  alter  this  situation 
and  cause  the  Government  and  Parliament  to  take  the  view 
that  intervention  was  justified.  The  preservation  of  the 
neutrality  of  Belgium  might  be,  I  would  not  say  a  decisive, 
but  an  important  factor,  in  determining  our  attitude. 
Whether  we  proposed  to  Parliament  to  intervene  or  not  to 
intervene  in  a  war,  Parliament  would  wish  to  know  how  we 
stood  with  regard  to  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  and  it  might 
be  that  I  should  ask  both  France  and  Germany  whether 
each  was  prepared  to  undertake  an  engagement  that  she 
would  not  be  the  first  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Belgium. 

90 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

M.  Cambon  repeated  his  question  whether  we  would  help 
France  if  Germany  made  an  attack  on  her. 

I  said  that  I  could  only  adhere  to  the  answer  that,  as  far 
as  things  had  gone  at  present,  we  could  not  take  any  engage- 
ment.   [Extract.] 

On  the  29th  of  July,  Sir  Edward  Grey  had  informed 
the  German  Ambassador  in  London  that  there  would 
be  no  question  of  England  intervening  if  France  was 
not  involved.  But  that  if  they  thought  British  inter- 
ests were  involved,  England  must  intervene  at  once. 
And  in  a  statement  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
August  27,  1914,  Sir  Edward  Grey  said:  — 

The  Cabinet  did,  however,  consider  most  carefully  the 
next  morning  —  that  is,  Sunday,  August  2  —  the  conditions 
on  which  we  could  remain  neutral,  and  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  respect  for  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  must  be  one 
of  these  conditions.  The  German  Chancellor  had  already 
been  told  on  July  30th  that  we  could  not  bargain  that  way. 
[Extract.] 

To  get  England's  point  of  view,  one  must  read  the 
dispatch  Sir  Edward  Grey  sent  to  the  British  Ambassa- 
dor at  Berlin  on  July  30,  1914,  printed  in  this  chapter. 
And  also  the  dispatch  sent  by  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
on  July  30  to  the  Austrian  Government,  and  first  made 
public  in  the  Reichstag  November  9,  1916,  printed  in 
the  chapter  entitled  "The  Thirteen  Days." 

In  his  communications  to  France  and  Russia,  Sir 
Edward  Grey  said  in  substance:  "If  there  is  war,  we 
cannot  promise  to  help  you,"  and  to  Germany  and 
Austria,  "If  there  is  war,  we  cannot  promise  to  stand 
aside." 

Germany  always  insisted  that  Austria-Hungary 
must  have  a  free  hand   to  war  on  Servia,  and  that 

91 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

England  must  restrain  Russia.  At  no  point  did  Ger- 
many or  Austria-Hungary  admit  the  essentially 
European  nature  of  the  conflict. 

The  following  dispatch  reveals  another  lost  oppor- 
tunity for  peace  on  common-sense  conditions :  — 

Russian  Charge"  <T Affaires  at  Berlin  to  Russian  Minister  for 

Foreign  Affairs 

(Telegram.)  Berlin,  July  U  (27),  19U. 

Before  my  visit  to  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  to-day 
His  Excellency  had  received  the  French  Ambassador,  who 
endeavored  to  induce  him  to  accept  the  British  proposal  for 
action  in  favor  of  peace,  such  action  to  be  taken  simultane- 
ously at  St.  Petersburg  and  at  Vienna  by  Great  Britain, 
Germany,  Italy,  and  France.  Cambon  suggested  that  these 
powers  should  give  their  advice  to  Vienna  in  the  following 
terms:  "To  abstain  from  all  action  which  might  aggravate 
the  existing  situation."  (S'abstenir  de  tout  acte  qui  pourrait 
aggraver  la  situation  de  l'heure  actuelle.)  By  adopting  this 
vague  formula,  all  mention  of  the  necessity  of  refraining 
from  invading  Servia  might  be  avoided.  Jagow  refused 
point-blank  to  accept  this  suggestion  in  spite  of  the  en- 
treaties of  the  Ambassador,  who  emphasized,  as  a  good 
feature  of  the  suggestion,  the  mixed  grouping  of  the  powers, 
thanks  to  which  the  opposition  between  the  Alliance  and 
the  Entente  —  a  matter  of  which  Jagow  himself  had  often 
complained  —  was  avoided. 

Again  Russia  as  late  as  July  31  gives  another  chance 
for  peace:  — 

Russian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  to  Russian  Ambassadors 
at  Berlin,  Vienna,  Paris,  London,  and  Rome 

(Telegram.)  St.  Petersburg,  July  18  (31),  19U. 

Please  refer  to  my  telegram  of  17  (30)  July.  The  British 
Ambassador,  on  the  instructions  of  his  Government,  has 
informed  me  of  the  wish  of  the  London  Cabinet  to  make 

92 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

certain  modifications  in  the  formula  which  I  suggested  yes- 
terday to  the  German  Ambassador.  I  replied  that  I  accepted 
the  British  suggestion.  I  accordingly  send  you  the  text  of 
the  modified  formula  which  is  as  follows :  — 

"  If  Austria  consents  to  stay  the  march  of  her  troops  on 
Servian  territory;  and  if,  recognizing  that  the  Austro- 
Servian  conflict  has  assumed  the  character  of  a  question  of 
European  interest,  she  admits  that  the  great  powers  may 
examine  the  satisfaction  which  Servia  can  accord  to  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Government  without  injury  to  her  rights 
as  a  sovereign  State  or  her  independence,  Russia  under- 
takes to  maintain  her  waiting  attitude." 

Can  any  one  say,  after  reading  this  dispatch,  that 
Sir  Edward  Grey  did  not  use  his  influence  on  Russia 
wisely? 

But  at  no  time  would  Austria-Hungary  or  Germany 
agree  to  the  suspension  of  hostilities  against  Servia. 

On  July  29  the  Austrian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
asked  the  German  Government  to  take  a  threatening 
attitude  toward  Russia  for  the  latter's  partial  mobili- 
zation, as  is  seen  from  the  following  dispatch :  — 

Count  Berchtold  to  Count  Szogyeny  at  Berlin 

(Telegraphic.)  Vienna,  July  29,  191k- 

As  a  last  effort  to  maintain  the  peace  of  Europe,  I  con- 
sider it  desirable  that  our  representative  and  the  representa- 
tive of  Germany  at  St.  Petersburg,  and,  if  necessary,  at 
Paris,  should  at  once  be  instructed  to  declare  to  the  Govern- 
ments to  whom  they  are  accredited,  in  a  friendly  manner, 
that  the  continuance  of  the  Russian  mobilization  would 
have  as  a  result  counter-measures  in  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary,  which  must  lead  to  serious  consequences. 

Your  Excellency  will  add  that,  as  can  be  understood,  in 
our  military  operations  against  Servia  we  will  not  allow 
ourselves  to  be  diverted  from  our  path. 

The  Imperial  and  Royal  Ambassadors  at  St.  Petersburg 

93 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  Paris  are  receiving  identical  instructions  to  make  the 
above  declaration  as  soon  as  their  German  colleague  receives 
similar  instructions. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  "last  effort"  to  maintain 
peace  insisted  that  Austria  must  continue  her  opera- 
tions against  Servia.  This  was  the  immovable  deter- 
mination from  the  first. 

The  German  White  Book  contains  a  statement 
issued  by  the  German  Foreign  Office,  dated  Berlin, 
August,  1914,  from  which  I  make  the  following  extract, 
which  again  explains  the  fundamental  difficulty  in  pre- 
venting war:  — 

Foreign  Office,  Berlin,  August,  191!}. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  was  clear  to  Austria  that  it 
was  not  compatible  with  the  dignity  and  the  spirit  of  self- 
preservation  of  the  Monarchy  to  view  idly  any  longer  this 
agitation  across  the  border.  The  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  apprised  Germany  of  this  conception  and 
asked  for  our  opinion.  With  all  our  heart  we  were  able  to 
agree  with  our  ally's  estimate  of  the  situation  and  assure  him 
that  any  action  considered  necessary  to  end  the  movement 
in  Servia  directed  against  the  conservation  of  the  Monarchy 
would  meet  with  our  approval. 

We  were  perfectly  aware  that  a  possible  warlike  attitude 
of  Austria-Hungary  against  Servia  might  bring  Russia  upon 
the  field,  and  that  it  might  therefore  involve  us  in  a  war,  in 
accordance  with  our  duty  as  allies. 

How  Russia  worked  for  peace  is  set  forth  in  the 
following  statement:  — 

Announcement  by  the  Russian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
respecting  Recent  Events 

July  20  {August  2),  1914. 

Simultaneously,  the  Russian  Government  declared  that 
Russia  was  ready  to  continue  discussions  with  a  view  to  a 

94 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

peaceful  settlement  of  the  dispute,  either  in  the  form  of 
direct  negotiations  with  Vienna  or,  as  suggested  by  Great 
Britain,  in  the  form  of  a  conference  of  the  four  great  powers 
not  directly  interested;  that  is  to  say,  Great  Britain,  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy. 

Nevertheless,  Russia  did  not  abandon  her  efforts  for  peace. 
When  questioned  by  the  German  Ambassador  as  to  the 
conditions  on  which  we  would  still  agree  to  suspend  our 
preparations,  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  declared  that 
these  conditions  were  Austria's  recognition  that  the  Austro- 
Servian  question  had  assumed  a  European  character,  and 
a  declaration  by  her  that  she  agreed  not  to  insist  upon  such 
of  her  demands  as  were  incompatible  with  the  sovereign 
rights  of  Servia. 

Germany  considered  this  Russian  proposal  unacceptable 
to  Austria-Hungary.  At  that  very  moment  news  of  the 
proclamation  of  general  mobilization  by  Austria-Hungary 
reached  St.  Petersburg. 

In  the  extracts  I  made  in  chapter  14  from  the  article 
introductory  to  the  dispatches  from  the  Belgian  Min- 
isters at  Berlin,  London,  and  Paris,  1905  to  1914,  there 
are  the  most  bewildering  statements,  assuming  that 
England  had  craftily  engineered  a  war  on  Germany. 

This  was  in  no  sense  England's  war.  England, 
Russia,  France,  and  Italy  wanted  the  trouble  between 
Austria-Hungary  and  Servia  to  be  settled  by  a  con- 
ference of  England,  Germany,  France,  and  Italy. 
Germany  wanted  England  to  restrain  Russia  while  she 
gave  Austria  a  free  hand. 

England  could  influence  Russia  to  submit  to  arbi- 
tration. She  could  not  restrain  Russia  from  declaring 
war  against  Austria,  unless  Austria  would  suspend  her 
war  against  Servia.  It  would  have  been  easier  for  Ger- 
many to  have  restrained  Austria  from  declaring  war 
on  Servia.   This  Germany  found  to  be  impossible. 

95 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I  conclude  that  the  German  Government  tried  to 
avoid  war.  That  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  Herr  von 
Jagow,  and  Herr  Zimmermann,  supported  by  the 
Kaiser,  worked  for  peace.  They  failed  because  they 
tried  the  impossible  (permitting  Austria  to  war  on 
Servia  and  expecting  Russia  to  remain  quiescent). 
They  tried  the  impossible  because  they  did  not  under- 
stand the  psychology  of  other  nations  —  what  Bis- 
marck called  the  "  imponderables."  They  believed  with 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  that  a  firm  atti- 
tude would  restrain  Russia,  just  as  their  military  chiefs 
believe  that  terrorism  is  in  the  long  run  the  most  mer- 
ciful policy. 

Nations  are  often  blamed,  because  their  chiefs,  min- 
isters, or  ambassadors  fail  by  misjudging  what  will  be 
the  effect  of  certain  words  or  acts  on  the  minds  of  other 
peoples.  Bismarck  was  a  master  in  dealing  with  the 
public  opinion  of  other  nations.  George  Washington, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  United 
States  Minister  to  England  during  the  Civil  War,  John 
Hay,  Elihu  Root,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  were  all  masters 
in  this  field. 

I  was  constantly  told  in  Germany  that  the  Germans 
did  not  know  how  to  present  their  case  to  the  world  as 
well  as  their  enemies.  They  said,  "Our  enemies  can 
influence  the  neutrals  better  than  we  can."  That  is 
true,  but  the  reason  is  not  what  Germany  thinks. 
Germany  failed  so  largely  to  win  the  approval  of  the 
neutral  world  because  her  words  and  her  acts  had  a 
different  influence  from  what  she  expected.  The 
German  officials  expected  different  results  from  their 
policy. 

Before  Austria  sent  the  note  to  Servia,  the  German 

96 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

Government  took  a  position  that  showed  an  incredible 
misunderstanding  of  the  effect  of  the  note  on  Russia. 
The  views  of  Von  Jagow  are  given  in  this  dispatch :  — 

Sir  H.  Rumbold,  British  Charge  d' Affaires  at  Berlin,  to 
Sir  Edward  Grey  (Received  July  22) 

(Telegraphic.)  Berlin,  July  22,  1914. 

Last  night  I  met  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  the  forthcoming  Austrian  demarche  at  Belgrade  was 
alluded  to  by  His  Excellency  in  the  conversation  that  ensued. 
He  insisted  that  the  question  at  issue  was  one  for  settlement 
between  Servia  and  Austria  alone,  and  that  there  should  be 
no  interference  from  outside  in  the  discussions  between 
those  two  countries.  He  had  therefore  considered  it  inad- 
visable that  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  should  be 
approached  by  the  German  Government  on  the  matter. 
[Extract.] 

The  aim  of  England  and  the  feeling  in  Russia  are 
explained  very  clearly  in  the  dispatch  from  the  British 
Ambassador  in  Russia  to  Sir  Edward  Grey  on  Satur- 
day, July  25,  as  follows:  — 

Sir  G.  Buchanan,  British  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg,  to 
Sir  Edward  Grey  (Received  July  25) 

(Telegraphic.)  St.  Petersburg,  July  25,  191b. 

On  my  expressing  the  earnest  hope  that  Russia  would  not 
precipitate  war  by  mobilizing  until  you  had  had  time  to 
use  your  influence  in  favor  of  peace,  His  Excellency  assured 
me  that  Russia  had  no  aggressive  intentions,  and  she  would 
take  no  action  until  it  was  forced  upon  her.  Austria's  action 
was  in  reality  directed  against  Russia.  She  aimed  at  over- 
throwing the  present  status  quo  in  the  Balkans,  and  estab- 
lishing her  own  hegemony  there.  He  did  not  believe  that 
Germany  really  wanted  war,  but  her  attitude  was  decided 
by  ours.  If  we  took  our  stand  firmly  with  France  and  Russia 

97 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

there  would  be  no  war.  If  we  failed  them  now,  rivers  of 
blood  would  flow,  and  we  would  in  the  end  be  dragged  into 
war. 

I  said  that  England  could  play  the  role  of  mediator  at 
Berlin  and  Vienna  to  better  purpose  as  a  friend  who,  if  her 
counsels  of  moderation  were  disregarded,  might  one  day  be 
converted  into  an  ally,  than  if  she  were  to  declare  herself 
Russia's  ally  at  once.  His  Excellency  said  that  unfortunately 
Germany  was  convinced  that  she  could  count  upon  our 
neutrality.   [Extract.] 

On  the  same  day,  Sir  Edward  Grey  urged  the  same 
advice  on  the  German  Ambassador  in  London,  as  is 
seen  from  this  dispatch :  — 

Sir  Edward  Grey  to  Sir  H.  Rumbold,  British  Charge  d' Affaires 

at  Berlin 

(Telegraphic.)  Foreign  Office,  July  25,  1914. 

I  impressed  upon  the  Ambassador  that,  in  the  event  of 
Russian  and  Austrian  mobilization,  the  participation  of 
Germany  would  be  essential  to  any  diplomatic  action  for 
peace.   Alone  we  could  do  nothing.   [Extract.] 

Still  later,  on  the  27th  of  July,  England  is  urging 
moderation  on  Russia,  as  is  seen  in  a  dispatch  from 
the  British  Ambassador  in  St.  Petersburg  to  Sir 
Edward  Grey  as  follows :  — 

Sir  G.  Buchanan,  British  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg  to 
Sir  Edward  Grey  (Received  July  27) 

(Telegraphic.)  St.  Petersburg,  July  27,  191k. 

On  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  questioning  me,  I  told 
him  that  I  had  correctly  defined  the  attitude  of  His  Maj- 
esty's Government  in  my  conversation  with  him,  which  I 
reported  in  my  telegram  of  the  24th  instant.  I  added  that 
you  could  not  promise  to  do  anything  more,  and  that  His 

98 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

Excellency  was  mistaken  if  he  believed  that  the  cause  of 
peace  could  be  promoted  by  our  telling  the  German  Govern- 
ment that  they  would  have  to  deal  with  us  as  well  as  with 
Russia  and  France  if  they  supported  Austria  by  force  of 
arms.  Their  attitude  would  merely  be  stiffened  by  such  a 
menace,  and  we  could  only  induce  her  to  use  her  influence  at 
Vienna  to  avert  war  by  approaching  her  in  the  capacity  of  a 
friend  who  was  anxious  to  preserve  peace.  His  Excellency 
must  not,  if  our  efforts  were  to  be  successful,  do  anything  to 
precipitate  a  conflict.  In  these  circumstances  I  trusted  that 
the  Russian  Government  would  defer  mobilization  ukase 
for  as  long  as  possible,  and  that  troops  would  not  be  allowed 
to  cross  the  frontier  even  when  it  was  issued.    [Extract.] 

Sir  Edward  Grey  had  already  sent  his  approval  of 
the  course  pursued  by  the  British  Ambassador  in 
St.  Petersburg  from  the  beginning  of  the  negotiations, 
as  is  seen  from  this  dispatch :  — 

Sir  Edward  Grey  to  Sir  G.  Buchanan,  British  Ambassador  at 

St.  Petersburg 

(Telegraphic.)  Foreign  Office,  July  25,  191%. 

You  spoke  quite  rightly  in  very  difficult  circumstances  as 
to  the  attitude  of  His  Majesty's  Government.  I  entirely 
approve  what  you  said,  as  reported  in  your  telegram  of 
yesterday,  and  I  cannot  promise  more  on  behalf  of  the 
Government.    [Extract.] 

Sir  Edward  Grey  explained  clearly  why  Englanc 
went  into  the  war,  in  his  address  to  Parliament 
August  3 :  — 

The  issues  at  stake 

I  ask  the  House,  from  the  point  of  view  of  British  inter- 
ests, to  consider  what  may  be  at  stake.  If  France  is  beaten 
in  a  struggle  of  life  and  death,  beaten  to  her  knees,  loses  her 
position  as  a  great  power,  becomes  subordinate  to  the  will 

99 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  power  of  one  greater  than  herself,  —  consequences 
which  I  do  not  anticipate,  because  I  am  sure  that  France  has 
the  power  to  defend  herself  with  all  the  energy  and  ability 
and  patriotism  which  she  has  shown  so  often,  —  still,  if  that 
were  to  happen,  and  if  Belgium  fell  under  the  same  domi- 
nating influence,  and  then  Holland  and  then  Denmark,  then 
would  not  Mr.  Gladstone's  words  come  true,  that  just  oppo- 
site to  us  there  would  be  a  common  interest  against  the  un- 
measured aggrandizement  of  any  power? 

It  may  be  said,  I  suppose,  that  we  might  stand  aside, 
husband  our  strength,  and  that,  whatever  happened  in  the 
course  of  this  war,  at  the  end  of  it  intervene  with  effect  to 
put  things  right  and  to  adjust  them  to  our  own  point  of  view. 
If  in  a  crisis  like  this  we  ran  away  from  those  obligations  of 
honor  and  interests  as  regards  the  Belgian  Treaty,  I  doubt 
whether,  whatever  material  force  we  might  have  at  the  end,  it 
would  be  of  very  much  value  in  face  of  the  respect  that  we 
should  have  lost.  At  the  end  of  the  war,  whether  we  have 
stood  aside  or  whether  we  have  been  engaged  in  it,  I  do  not 
believe  for  a  moment  —  even  if  we  had  stood  aside  and  re- 
mained aside  —  that  we  should  be  in  a  position,  a  material 
position,  to  use  our  force  decisively  to  undo  what  had  hap- 
pened in  the  course  of  the  war,  to  prevent  the  whole  of  the 
west  of  Europe,  opposite  to  us,  if  that  had  been  the  result  of 
the  war,  falling  under  the  domination  of  a  single  power,  and 
I  am  quite  sure  that  our  moral  position  would  be  such  as  to 
have  lost  all  respect. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  was  largely  instrumental  in  pre- 
serving the  peace  of  Europe  during  the  Balkan  wars, 
not  merely  because  he  was  just,  not  merely  because  he 
was  conciliatory,  not  merely  because  he  was  truthful, 
but  also  because  he  understood  the  psychology  of  other 
nations.  From  the  very  beginning  he  saw  that  if 
Austria  persisted  in  her  course  a  European  war  was 
almost  inevitable.  He  realized  the  danger  of  giving 
either  side  a  free  hand  so  far  as  England  was  concerned. 

100 


WHY  DID  ENGLAND  ENTER  THE  WAR? 

We  know  from  very  high  sources  the  impression  Sir 
Edward  Grey  had  made  on  the  Governments  of  Europe. 

In  an  address  in  the  Reichstag  on  April  7,  1913, 
Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  said :  — 

Europe  will  feel  grateful  to  the  English  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs  for  the  extraordinary  ability  and  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation with  which  he  conducted  the  discussions  in  London, 
and  which  constantly  enabled  him  to  reconcile  divergencies 
of  view.  Germany  shares  all  the  more  sincerely  in  this  grati- 
tude, because  she  knows  herself  to  be  at  one  with  the  aims 
of  English  policy,  and,  standing  loyally  by  her  allies,  has 
labored  in  the  same  sense. 

In  an  address  before  the  Austro-Hungarian  Dele- 
gations, in  November,  1913,  Count  Berchtold,  the 
Foreign  Minister  of  Austria-Hungary,  said :  — 

All  Europe  can  find  are  words  of  gratitude  and  recognition 
for  Sir  Edward  Grey,  and  the  distinctly  objective  course  of 
British  foreign  policy  which  has  greatly  assisted  in  making 
possible  the  removal  of  numberless  difficulties  in  the  situa- 
tion without  serious  discord  being  thereby  produced. 

I  believe  that  the  verdict  of  history  on  the  work  of 
Sir  Edward  Grey  during  the  fatal  thirteen  days  will 
rank  him  as  the  foremost  statesman  of  his  time. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WHY   DID   GERMANY   INVADE   BELGIUM? 

It  would  have  seemed  to  a  detached  and  well-informed 
observer  on  August  1,  1914,  that  the  invasion  of 
Belgium  by  Germany  would  surely  cause  England  to 
go  to  war. 

The  negotiations  of  1912,  in  which  Lord  Haldane 
was  so  active  and  which  are  explained  in  the  third 
chapter  of  this  book,  revealed  very  definitely  England's 
views  as  to  the  neutrality  of  Belgium.  Also,  when  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  broke  out,  in  1870,  Her  Majesty 
Queen  Victoria's  Government  sent  an  identical  ques- 
tion to  the  Emperor  of  France  and  to  the  King  of 
Prussia,  as  to  whether  or  not  either  would  violate  the 
neutrality  of  Belgium.  Later  the  British  Government 
made  an  identical  treaty  with  each  of  the  two  belliger- 
ents. I  give  herewith  an  extract  from  the  treaty  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Prussia.  All  the  world  knew 
that  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  the  most  pacific 
Government  to  keep  England  out  of  a  war  that  in- 
volved the  violation  of  Belgium's  neutrality. 

Cooperation  of  Great  Britain  with  Prussia  in  case  of  violation 
of  Neutrality  of  Belgium  by  France 

Article  1.  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Prussia  having  de- 
clared that,  notwithstanding  the  Hostilities  in  which  the 
North  German  Confederation  is  engaged  with  France,  it  is 
his  fixed  determination  to  respect  the  Neutrality  of  Belgium, 
so  long  as  the  same  shall  be  respected  by  France,  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 

102 


WHY  DID   GERMANY   INVADE   BELGIUM? 

and  Ireland  on  her  part  declares  that,  if  during  the  said 
Hostilities  the  Armies  of  France  should  violate  that  Neu- 
trality, she  will  be  prepared  to  cooperate  with  His  Prussian 
Majesty  for  the  defence  of  the  same  in  such  a  manner  as  may 
be  mutually  agreed  upon,  employing  for  that  purpose  her 
Naval  and  Military  Forces  to  insure  its  observance,  and  to 
maintain,  in  conjunction  with  His  Prussian  Majesty,  then 
and  thereafter,  the  Independence  and  Neutrality  of  Bel- 
gium. 

But  could  Britain  keep  out  of  the  war,  even  if 
Belgium  were  not  in  question?  Hardly.  War  breaks 
out.  Great  Britain  during  the  years  of  naval  competi- 
tion with  Germany  had  massed  nearly  all  her  navy  in 
the  North  Sea.  France  had  undertaken  to  make  good 
in  the  Mediterranean  the  withdrawal  of  England's 
warships  from  thence  and,  in  return,  England  had 
agreed  to  protect  the  northern  coasts  of  France,  which 
France  had  denuded  when  she  massed  her  naval 
armaments  in  the  Mediterranean.  Further,  public 
opinion  in  England  would  not  let  England  stand 
aside  while  France  was  being  crushed. 

The  moment  that  war  should  break  out,  Germany 
would  endeavor  to  hinder  France's  export  and  import 
trade.  In  a  month  or  two,  England  must  have  come  in. 
No  one  can  doubt  this  who  remembers  the  diplomatic 
events  of  the  last  two  years  and  a  half  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany. 

If  England  were  sure  to  enter  the  war  in  any  event, 
what  would  be  the  chances  of  her  coming  in  earlier  if 
Belgium  were  invaded?  And  even  if  she  came  in  imme- 
diately, would  not  the  advantages  of  attacking  France 
through  Belgium  greatly  outweigh  the  benefit  to 
France  of  Britain's  immediately  entering  the  war? 

The  genuine  surprise  of  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg, 

103 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  in  fact  of  the  masses  of  the  German  people,  shows 
that  Germany  did  not  count  on  the  immediate  en- 
trance of  Great  Britain  into  the  war. 

I  was  in  London  from  July  15  to  July  25,  1914. 
Already  I  had  spent  a  month  in  Ireland  visiting  many 
places,  seeing  many  people.  For  one  week  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  travel  with  Lord  Northcliffe,  and  was 
able  to  learn  a  great  deal  through  the  facilities  he 
commanded. 

Civil  war  in  Ireland  seemed  certain  and  when  the 
King  called  the  conference  to  meet  in  Buckingham 
Palace,  he  used  the  words  civil  war  in  his  proclamation. 
This  conference  failed.  England's  preoccupation  was 
serious. 

Further,  even  should  England  immediately  enter  the 
war,  it  could  make  but  slight  difference.  From  a  mili- 
tary standpoint,  England  was  almost  as  negligible  as 
the  United  States.  What  would  a  hundred  thousand 
troops  signify  in  a  contest  in  which  millions  would  be 
engaged  on  each  side? 

The  advantages  to  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
an  advance  through  Belgium  would  be  incalculable. 

First,  she  could  probably  in  less  than  six  weeks 
envelop  the  armies  of  France  and  capture  Paris.  With 
her  knowledge  of  the  military  situation  and  of  the  ar- 
maments of  Germany  and  France,  nothing  was  more 
absolutely  certain  to  Germany  than  that  her  armies 
would  be  in  Paris  by  the  middle  of  September.  And 
any  student  of  the  war  to-day  with  the  knowledge 
then  available  to  the  Germans  would  regard  their  be- 
lief as  absolutely  sound. 

The  military  condition  in  France  was  well  known  in 
Germany.    Moreover,  on  July  13,  an  address  to  the 

104 


WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM? 

French  Senate  by  Senator  Humbert  revealed  France's 
military  shortcomings.  I  quote  from  a  dispatch  that 
appeared  in  the  London  "Times,"  July  14,  1914:  — 

Startling  disclosures  in  the  Senate  to-day  with  regard  to 
the  deficient  organization  and  administration  of  the  Army 
were  rendered  still  more  dramatic  by  the  intervention  of 
M.  Clemenceau,  who  demanded  an  immediate  reply  from 
the  War  Minister.  The  House  is  expected  to  sit  to-morrow, 
National  Fete  day,  in  order  to  continue  the  debate. 

The  disclosures  were  made  by  M.  Charles  Humbert, 
Senator  from  the  Meuse,  in  submitting  his  report  on  the 
special  report  for  materiel.  This  speech  was  as  scathing  an 
indictment  of  a  public  department  as  has  been  heard  in  the 
French  Parliament. 

Forts,  he  said,  were  defective  in  structure;  guns  lacked 
ammunition,  and  the  men  were  without  boots.  There  was 
no  provision  for  the  defense  of  fortifications  against  attacks 
from  the  air,  and  the  wireless  installation  for  communicating 
from  fort  to  fort  was  inadequate.  When  the  German  wireless 
installation  at  Metz  was  working,  the  Verdun  station  ceased 
to  receive  messages.  The  French  artillery  was  rapidly  falling 
behind  that  of  Germany.  So-called  improvements  were 
themselves  obsolete  by  the  time  they  had  been  discussed  and 
adopted.  As  for  the  boots  of  the  Army,  the  supply  was 
two  million  short  of  requirements.  If  war  broke  out,  the 
men  would  have  to  take  the  field  with  one  pair  of  boots  and 
only  one  reserve  boot  in  their  knapsack,  and  that  one  thirty 
years  old. 

There  must,  he  concluded,  be  a  complete  reorganization 
of  the  whole  business  of  military  administration,  which  at 
present  suffered  from  an  extreme  instability  of  government. 

M.  Messimy,  the  Minister  of  War,  said  he  could  not  reply 
to  the  indictment  on  the  spur  of  the  moment;  whereupon 
M.  Clemenceau  exclaimed,  "The  country  has  a  right  to 
know  how  its  money  has  been  spent;  we  must  have  an 
immediate  reply." 

The  Minister  of  War,  amid  great  excitement,  then  ad- 
mitted that  the  majority  of  the  accusations  made  by  M. 

105 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Humbert  were  accurate,  taken  by  themselves.   They  were, 
however,  only  accurate  as  exceptions,  and  not  as  the  rule. 

The  great  plan  of  the  German  General  Staff  was 
simplicity  itself.  Germany's  military  forces  would  be 
placed  on  the  Franco-German  frontier  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  protect  against  invasion  and  occupy  the 
bulk  of  the  French  military  forces.  Meanwhile  an 
overwhelming  army  of  over  a  million  of  the  best- 
equipped  soldiers  in  the  world  would  sweep  through 
Belgium,  drive  the  French  forces  west  and  south,  en- 
velop them,  achieve  a  Sedan  on  a  colossal  scale,  and 
take  Paris  at  its  leisure. 

But  the  French  do  not  give  up  easily,  and  with  the 
Loire  as  a  new  front,  France  might  carry  on  the  war, 
thereby  delaying  victory  and  adding  heavily  to  the 
cost  of  the  war  and  also  giving  time  for  England  to 
come  in. 

But  by  invading  France  through  Belgium,  Germany 
did  more  than  win  a  battle.  Modern  war  requires 
munitions  on  a  gigantic  scale.  Modern  war  is  a  war  of 
metallurgy.  Nearly  all  the  iron  and  coal  mines  of 
France  and  three  fourths  of  her  steel  mills  are  in  the 
northeast.  When  Germany  intrenched  after  the  battle 
of  the  Marne,  she  controlled  most  of  the  mineral  re- 
sources —  and  hence  most  of  the  raw  materials  for 
munitions  —  of  France.  The  war  was  won  if  France 
could  not  get  materials  by  sea,  and  there  was  the 
submarine. 

The  enormous  increase  in  Germany's  resources  and 
the  starvation  of  France's  industries  rendered  France 
absolutely  unable  to  manufacture  sufficient  munitions, 
the  more  so  as  more  than  a  third  of  all  her  manufactur- 
ing plants  were  in  Germany's  possession. 

106 


WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM? 

Further,  the  crops  raised  in  the  part  of  France 
occupied  by  the  German  armies  are  not  applied  to  the 
needs  of  the  inhabitants.  They  are  taken  by  the 
German  Government.  When  I  was  in  Mannheim,  in 
April,  1916,  I  was  told  by  Herr  Hirsch,  president  of 
the  Corn  Exchange,  that  he  had  a  day  or  two  before 
dealt  with  one  thousand  tons  of  wheat  shipped  from 
French  territory  occupied  by  the  Germans. 

Iron  ore  from  the  French  mines  is  mined  far  in  excess 
of  the  consumption  of  the  mills,  and  is  stored  up  in 
Germany.  The  forests  are  cut  down  and  the  lumber 
shipped  to  Germany. 

It  is  estimated  by  the  French  Government  that  it 
will  require  two  and  a  half  billion  dollars  to  restore  the 
part  of  France  occupied  by  the  German  army.  This 
does  not  include  the  loss  to  France  from  the  exploita- 
tion of  her  mines  of  iron  ore  and  coal,  nor  from  the 
destruction  of  her  forests. 

The  Eastern  frontier  of  France  runs  through  the 
middle  of  the  Lorraine  iron  deposits;  and  nine  tenths 
of  the  metallurgical  industries  of  the  whole  of  France 
are  concentrated  in  the  Briey  Basin  just  across  the 
frontier  from  Germany.  If,  the  Germans  argued,  the 
Briey  Basin  were  seized  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
the  French  would  have  lost  more  than  a  battle,  be- 
cause they  would  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  recupera- 
tion, and  the  Germans,  on  their  part,  would  have 
gained  "a  victory  without  a  morrow." 

.  .  .  France,  though  victorious  [writes  M.  Engerand], 
found  herself  nevertheless  without  munitions  and  material, 
and  without  the  means  of  producing  them  in  the  quantities 
made  requisite  by  the  turn  which  the  war  was  taking  — 
deprived  of  90  per  cent  of  her  iron  ore,  68  per  cent  of  her  coal, 

107 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

86  per  cent  of  her  resources  for  the  production  of  cast  iron, 
and  76  per  cent  of  her  power  of  turning  out  steel  and  iron 
plates.  Of  127  blast  furnaces  in  active  operation  in  1913, 
95  were  in  the  war  zone  and  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy. 
She  had,  besides,  been  obliged  to  abandon  to  Germany 
enormous  stocks  of  cast  iron,  steel  billets,  and  iron  plates. 
At  Valenciennes,  the  Germans  found  immense  supplies  of 
horseshoes,  of  which  they  then  stood  very  much  in  need. 

The  Germans,  no  less  than  ourselves,  realized  that  fact, 
as  appears  from  a  confidential  memorandum  addressed  to 
Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  on  May  20,  1915,  by  the 
representatives  of  six  important  industrial  associations:  — 

The  manufacture  of  our  shells  calls  for  iron  and  steel 
in  quantities  hitherto  unsuspected.  Merely  for  the 
shells  of  fonte  grise,  which  are  inferior  substitutes  for 
the  shells  of  fonte  d'acier  and  acier  etire,  we  have  re- 
quired, during  the  last  few  months,  4000  tons  of  iron 
per  day.  If  our  production  of  iron  and  steel  had  not 
been  doubled  since  last  August,  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  continue  the  war.  As  raw  material  for  the 
manufacture  of  these  immense  quantities  of  iron  and 
steel,  the  "  minette"  [i.e.,  the  ore  of  the  Lorraine  mines] 
takes  a  place  of  continually  increasing  importance;  for 
this  is  the  only  ore  which  we  can  get  out  of  our  mines  in 
continually  increasing  quantities.  From  60  to  80  per 
cent  of  our  iron  and  steel  is,  at  present,  being  made  from 
the  minette.  If  the  production  of  the  minette  were  inter- 
rupted, the  war  would  be  as  good  as  lost. 


<(  i 


The  economic  production  of  France,"  said  Herr 
Schrodter,  at  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Verein 
Eisenhuttenleuter,  "  is  seriously  damaged,  and,  indeed,  in  a 
large  measure  annihilated." 

By  invading  Belgium,  Germany  secured  immeas- 
urable advantages,  incalculable  because  she  at  once 
increased  her  coal  and  iron  resources  so  that  her  pro- 
duction was  enormously  increased,  and  most  impor- 

108 


WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM? 

tant  of  all,  she  crippled  France  at  the  very  source  for  the 
manufacture  of  munitions.  But  this  was  not  all.  She 
stripped  the  Belgian  and  French  mills  and  factories  of 
all  raw  materials  as  well  as  of  all  useful  machinery. 
Belgium  and  occupied  France  have  thus  been  a  source 
of  great  strength  to  Germany,  at  less  than  no  expense. 
In  a  petition  to  the  German  Government  to  take 
territory  from  France,  and  to  control  Belgium  eco- 
nomically after  the  war,  six  influential  associations 
gave  a  statement  of  the  enormous  value  of  the  terri- 
tory occupied.  The  names  of  the  associations  which 
organized  the  petition  are  as  follows:  Bund  der 
Landwirte  (Farmers'  League),  Deutsche  Bauern  Ver- 
band  (German  Peasants'  Union),  Vorort  der  Christ- 
lichen  Bauern vereine  (the  Executive  of  the  Christian 
Peasants'  Union),  Zentral  Verband  Deutscher  In- 
dustrieller  (Central  Association  of  German  Manu- 
facturers), Bund  Deutscher  Industrieller  (the  Union 
of  German  Manufacturers),  and  the  Reichsdeutsche 
Mittelstands-Verband  (Imperial  German  Middle- 
Class  Association). 

The  present  war  must  be  followed  by  a  peace  concluded 
with  honor  answering  to  the  sacrifices  made  and  containing 
in  itself  the  guarantee  of  its  endurance. 

Our  only  guarantee  consists  in  an  economic  and  military 
enfeeblement  of  our  adversaries,  such  that,  thanks  to  it, 
peace  will  be  insured  for  a  period  as  long  as  can  be  taken  into 
consideration. 

Because  it  is  necessary  to  assure  our  credit  on  the  sea,  and 
our  military  and  economical  situation  for  the  future  in  rela- 
tion to  England,  because  the  Belgian  territory,  economically 
so  important,  is  closely  connected  with  our  own  principal 
industrial  territory,  Belgium,  in  matters  monetary,  finan- 
cial, and  postal,  must  be  subjected  to  the  legislation  of  the 

109 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Empire.  Her  railways  and  waterways  must  be  closely  bound 
up  with  our  own  communications.  By  constituting  a  Wal- 
loon territory  and  a  territory  preponderatingly  Flemish, 
and  by  putting  into  German  hands  the  enterprises  and  the 
economical  properties  so  important  in  dominating  the  coun- 
try, we  shall  organize  the  government  and  the  administra- 
tion in  such  a  manner  that  the  inhabitants  shall  be  able  to 
acquire  no  influence  on  the  political  destinies  of  the  German 
Empire. 

As  to  France,  always  having  in  view  our  situation  with 
relation  to  the  English,  it  is  of  vital  interest  to  us,  in  view  of 
our  future  on  the  sea,  that  we  should  possess  the  coastal 
region  adjoining  Belgium  very  nearly  as  far  as  the  Somme 
which  will  give  us  an  opening  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The 
hinterland,  which  must  be  acquired  at  the  same  time,  must 
have  such  an  extent  that  economically  and  strategically  the 
ports  to  which  lead  the  canals  may  be  able  to  take  their  full 
importance.  Every  other  territorial  conquest  of  France, 
outside  of  the  necessary  annexation  of  the  mining  basins  of 
Briey,  must  be  made  only  from  considerations  of  military 
strategy.  In  this  respect,  after  the  experiences  of  this  war,  it 
is  very  natural  that  we  should  not  expose  our  frontiers  to 
new  hostile  invasions  by  leaving  to  the  adversary  the  for- 
tresses which  threaten  us,  especially  Verdun  and  Belfort, 
and  the  western  ramparts  of  the  Vosges,  situated  between 
those  two  fortresses.  By  the  conquest  of  the  line  of  the 
Meuse  and  of  the  French  coast  with  the  mouths  of  the 
canals,  we  should  acquire  from  her,  besides  the  iron  ore 
regions  of  Briey  already  indicated,  the  coal  territories  of  the 
Departments  of  the  North  and  of  the  Pas-de-Calais.  These 
territorial  augmentations  suppose  that  the  population  of 
the  annexed  territories  shall  not  be  in  a  position  to  attain 
any  political  influence  over  the  destinies  of  the  German 
Empire,  and  that  all  the  means  of  economic  power  existing 
in  these  territories,  including  moderate  and  large  properties, 
shall  pass  into  German  hands;  France  shall  indemnify  the 
property-owners  and  shall  receive  them. 

This  with  the  coast-line  will  enable  use  to  be  made  of  the 
canals  and  enable  the  ports  at  the  mouth  of  the  canals  to 

110 


WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM? 

assume  their  full  importance.  The  security  of  the  German 
Empire  in  a  future  war  imperiously  calls  for  all  the  beds  of 
minerals,  including  the  fortresses  of  Longwy  and  of  Verdun, 
without  which  these  mineral  beds  cannot  be  protected.  The 
possession  of  great  quantities  of  coal,  and  especially  of  coal 
rich  in  bitumen,  which  abounds  in  the  basin  of  the  North  of 
France,  is,  at  least  in  as  great  measure  as  iron  ore,  decisive 
for  the  issue  of  the  war.  Belgium  and  the  North  of  France 
together  produce  more  than  forty  millions  of  tons. 

The  value  of  the  territory  Germany  secured  from 
France  in  1871  is  indicated  in  a  statement  by  Otto 
Hue,  Socialist  Member  of  the  Reichstag :  — 

Of  the  34,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore  worked  up  in  German 
smelters  and  foundries  in  1913,  some  23,250,000  tons  came 
from  the  interior  of  the  Empire,  and  as  of  that  only  about 
7,000,000  tons  were  produced  outside  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  a 
simple  calculation  shows  that  already  in  1913  some  70  per 
cent  of  the  German  iron  ore  used  came  from  Lorraine. 

What  France  lost  is  clearly  stated  by  Henri  Berenger, 
Member  of  the  French  Senate:  — 

There  is  no  reason  to  be  astonished  that  Germany,  from 
the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  has  sought  to  maintain  pos- 
session of  the  Basin  of  Briey,  which  represented  90  per  cent 
of  our  iron  production,  and  that  the  attack  on  Verdun  has 
been  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  and  perpetuating  this 
possession. 

Before  the  war  Germany  produced  annually  28,000,000 
tons  of  iron,  of  which  21,000,000  tons  came  from  that  part 
of  the  Basin  of  Briey  which  had  been  annexed  to  Germany 
since  1870-71. 

France  produced  annually  22,000,000  tons  of  iron,  of 
which  15,000,000  tons  came  from  the  part  of  the  Basin  of 
Briey  which  had  remained  French.  .  .  . 

Since  the  war  began  France,  having  lost  the  Basin  of 
Briey  through  invasion,  has  been  almost  exclusively  fur- 
nished with  iron  from  England  and  America. 

Ill 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Germany,  on  the  contrary,  having  occupied  at  the  same 
time  the  Basin  of  Briey  in  France  and  in  Luxemburg,  has 
put  in  operation  nearly  all  the  great  furnaces  there  and  thus 
adds  to  her  28,000,000  tons,  before  the  war,  the  15,000,000 
tons  of  our  basin  and  the  6,000,000  of  the  Basin  of  Luxem- 
burg —  that  is,  28  plus  15  plus  6,  making  49,000,000  tons 
of  iron  for  herself  and  her  allies. 

Germany  has  at  her  disposition  about  45,000,000  tons  of 
ore  for  military  and  naval  appliances  of  all  sorts. 

We  have  left  Germany  in  possession  of  90  per  cent  of  our 
French  production  of  iron  and  of  80  per  cent  of  the  national 
production  of  steel  we  had  before  the  war. 

Here,  notably,  is  what  one  may  read  since  May  20,  1915, 
in  the  "Confidential  Memorandum  on  the  Conditions  of 
Future  Peace,"  which  was  addressed  to  Von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  by  the  six  great  indus- 
trial and  agricultural  associations  of  Germany :  — 

If  the  production  of  pig  iron  and  steel  had  not  been 
doubled  since  August,  1914,  the  continuation  of  the 
war  would  have  been  impossible.  At  present  the  min- 
eral of  Briey  furnishes  from  60  to  80  per  cent  of  the 
appliances  made  from  iron  and  steel.  If  this  production 
be  disturbed  the  war  will  be  practically  lost. 

British  and  French  naval  and  mercantile  power 
overcame  the  tremendous  handicap  under  which 
France  suffered. 

France  had  to  import  coal,  iron,  and  steel,  had  to 
make  an  enormous  increase  in  manufacturing  facilities, 
and  at  the  same  time  wage  a  colossal  war. 

The  Question  or  Alsace-Lorraine:  a  Footnote 

I  will  here  give  data  furnished  me  by  Mr.  Sawhill, 
associate  editor  of  "The  Iron  Trade  Review,"  Cleve- 
land. Mr.  Penton,  the  publisher,  had  just  spent  sev- 
eral months  in  France,  studying  the  industrial  situa- 

112 


WHY  DID  GERMANY  INVADE  BELGIUM? 

tion.  These  statistics  as  to  production  of  iron  ore  are 
the  latest  available,  and  are  for  1913,  the  last  year 
before  the  war:  — 

Germany  (of  which  Alsace-Lorraine  pro- 
duces 21,136,265) 28,607,903 

France    (of   which  Briey    Basin   produces 

12,699,240  for  1912) 21,714,000 

England 15,997,328 

United  States 61,980,437 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  three  fourths  of 
the  iron  ore  mined  in  Germany  comes  from  Alsace- 
Lorraine.  According  to  these  statistics  if  France  gets 
back  Alsace-Lorraine  the  production  of  iron  ore  in 
Germany  would  be  7,471,638  tons  and  in  France 
42,850,265  tons.  Should  Germany  keep  the  Briey 
Basin  which  she  now  holds,  the  production  in  Germany 
would  be  41,307,143  tons,  and  in  France  9,014,760 
tons. 

In  quoting  from  various  authorities  I  have  not  tried 
to  reduce  the  statements  to  identical  terms  as  to  terri- 
tory and  tonnage.  The  statistics  given  herewith  are 
accurate  if  we  deal  with  what  is  known  in  France  as 
the  Briey  Basin.  The  settlement  of  the  question  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  is  not  as  simple  as  if  it  were  a  mere 
matter  of  scenery. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SPOLIATION   OF   BELGIUM 

On  Friday,  July  SI,  1914,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
telegraphed  to  the  German  Embassy  in  St.  Petersburg, 
as  follows :  — 

In  spite  of  negotiations  still  pending  and  although  we 
have  up  to  this  hour  made  no  preparations  for  mobilization, 
Russia  has  mobilized  her  entire  army  and  navy,  hence  also 
against  us. 

From  this  dispatch  and  from  a  similar  one  sent  to 
Paris  on  the  same  day,  we  learn  that  Germany  had 
not  mobilized  before  Saturday,  August  1,  1914.  At 
7  p.m.  August  2,  on  Sunday,  the  German  Minister  at 
Brussels,  Herr  von  Below,  informed  the  Belgian 
Government  of  the  purpose  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment of  invading  France  by  way  of  Belgium. 

This  notwithstanding  that  already,  on  August  1, 
the  French  Minister  at  Brussels  had  made  the  follow- 
ing verbal  communication  to  the  Belgian  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs :  — 

I  am  authorized  to  declare  that  in  the  event  of  an  inter- 
national conflict  the  Government  of  the  Republic  will,  as  it 
has  always  declared,  respect  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  In 
the  event  of  this  neutrality  not  being  respected  by  another 
power,  the  French  Government,  in  order  to  insure  its  own 
defense,  might  be  led  to  modify  its  attitude. 

I  deal  with  the  entire  subject  of  the  neutrality  of 
Belgium  in  chapter  14. 

114 


THE  SPOLIATION   OF   BELGIUM 

On  the  4th  of  August,  in  the  Reichstag,  in  the  course 
of  his  address,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  said :  — 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  in  a  position  of  necessity  [energetic 
assent];  and  necessity  knows  no  law.  (Not  kennt  kein  Gebot.) 
[Energetic  applause.]  Our  troops  have  occupied  Luxemburg 
[energetic  "Bravo"];  perhaps  they  have  already  entered 
Belgian  territory.  [Energetic  applause.]  Gentlemen,  this  is 
in  contradiction  to  the  rules  of  international  law.  The 
French  Government  has  declared  in  Brussels  that  it  is  willing 
to  respect  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  so  long  as  it  is  respected 
by  the  enemy.  But  we  knew  that  France  stood  prepared  for 
an  inroad.  ["Hear,  hear,"  from  right.]  France  could  wait, 
but  we  could  not.  A  French  inroad  on  our  flank  on  the 
Lower  Rhine  could  have  been  fatal  to  us.  [Energetic  assent.] 
So  we  were  forced  to  set  aside  the  just  protests  of  the  Lux- 
emburg and  Belgian  Governments.  ["Quite  right!"]  The 
wrong  —  I  speak  openly  —  the  wrong  that  we  now  do  we 
will  try  to  make  good  again  as  soon  as  our  military  ends 
have  been  reached.  When  one  is  threatened  as  we  are,  and 
all  is  at  stake,  he  can  only  think  of  how  he  can  hack  his  way 
out.  [Long,  stormy  applause  and  clapping  from  all  sides  of 
the  House.] 

In  regard  to  the  statement  of  Von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  that  he  knew  "France  stood  prepared  for  an 
inroad"  (through  Belgium),  one  can  only  say  that  so 
far  as  indicated  by  the  facts  and  all  available  docu- 
ments, Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  was  misinformed  by 
the  military  authorities  of  Germany. 

The  fate  of  the  Belgians  and  of  the  Armenians  will 
stand  out  as  the  two  greatest  tragedies  of  the  war. 

Belgium  has  about  one  fourteenth  the  population 
and  one  fourteenth  the  wealth  of  the  United  States,  the 
per  capita  wealth  being  about  the  same.  But  Belgium 
produces  less  than  one  third  of  the  food  it  requires.  It 
is  a  country  rich  in  coal  and  iron.   Its  foreign  trade  is 

115 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

enormous  for  its  size.  If  the  foreign  trade  of  the 
United  States  were  correspondingly  as  large  as  the 
foreign  trade  of  Belgium,  it  would  be  twenty  billions 
a  year.  Belgium  had  a  population  equal  to  that  of 
Canada,  a  territory  less  than  one  third  that  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  a  foreign  trade  equal  to  that  of 
all  South  America. 

Immediately  on  invading  Belgium,  the  German 
Government  seized  all  the  raw  materials  in  the  great 
manufacturing  centers,  and  not  only  that,  but  all  the 
valuable  machinery  in  the  mills  and  factories  of 
Belgium.  To  replace  the  private  property  thus  con- 
fiscated will  require  several  hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars. 

Further,  heavy  requisitions  were  made  for  other 
materials  for  the  army  and  heavy  fines  were  levied  on 
cities  and  provinces,  and  later  the  deposits  of  the  larg- 
est banks  were  requisitioned.  It  is  estimated,  counting 
the  ten  million  dollars  a  month  that  Germany  collects 
from  Belgium  to  pay  for  the  army  of  occupation,  that 
the  amount  of  raw  materials,  machinery,  other  supplies 
and  money  that  Germany  has  taken  from  Belgium 
reaches  a  total  in  excess  of  one  billion  dollars,  or  nearly 
five  times  as  much  as  all  the  world  has  contributed  to  keep 
the  Belgian  people  from  starving  to  death. 

The  thoroughness  of  the  search  by  the  military 
authorities  for  all  useful  supplies  is  illustrated  by  such 
proclamations  as  the  following,  posted  at  Grivegnee, 
September  6,  1914:  — 

Any  one  knowing  of  the  location  of  a  store  of  more  than 
one  hundred  litres  of  petroleum,  benzine,  benzol,  or  other 
similar  liquids  in  the  aforesaid  communes,  and  who  does  not 
report  same  to  the  military  commander  on  the  spot,  incurs 

116 


THE  SPOLIATION   OF  BELGIUM 

the  penalty  of  death,  provided  there  is  no  doubt  about  the 
quantity  and  location  of  the  store.  Quantities  of  one  hundred 
litres  are  alone  referred  to. 

(Signed)  Dieckmann,  Major  in  Command. 

Here  is  an  illustrative  incident  from  a  German  news- 
paper: l — 

...  A  chateau  stands  beside  the  highway,  at  the  back  of 
a  courtyard  protected  by  a  French  spear-headed  railing.  It 
is  intact,  and  shelters  the  staff  of  an  infantry  regiment.  Fac- 
ing it  is  the  ruined  f  acade  of  an  incredibly  pretentious  build- 
ing on  whose  pediment  sprawls  in  letters  of  gold  the  one 
word,  "Bank."  Beside  it  is  a  wholesale  corn-chandler's  and 
a  wholesale  wine-merchant's.  All  this  belonged  to  a  single 
man.  It  was  necessary  to  shoot  him  as  hostage,  because  the 
French  were  persisting,  despite  all  warnings,  in  throwing 
shells  into  the  neighborhood.  In  the  wine-cellars  stores  of 
unexpected  importance  were  found:  according  to  the  esti- 
mates there  are  more  than  half  a  million  litres  of  red  and 
white  wine  of  very  good  quality.  A  great  part  of  the  wine  was 
pumped  out  of  the  tanks  and  received,  like  an  old  acquaint- 
ance, by  the  comrades  far  and  near. 

The  rich  man  of  this  quarter  of  the  town  had  a  companion 
who  was  more  lucky,  who  in  due  time  sought  safety  in  flight. 

Here  is  a  proclamation  which  shows  another  method 
of  using  the  resources  of  Belgium :  — 

By  order  of  His  Excellency  the  Inspector  de  l'Etape,  I 
call  the  attention  of  the  commune  to  the  following:  — 

The  attitude  of  certain  factories  which,  under  pretext  of 
patriotism  and  relying  on  the  Hague  Convention,  have  re- 
fused to  work  for  the  German  Army,  proves  that  there  are, 
in  the  midst  of  the  population,  tendencies  whose  object  is  to 
place  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  administration  of  the 
German  army. 

In  this  connection  I  make  it  known  that  I  shall  repress, 
by  all  the  means  at  my  disposal,  such  behavior,  which  can 
1  The  Kolnische  Zeitung,  February  21,  1915. 
117 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

only  disturb  the  good  understanding  hitherto  existing  be- 
tween the  administration  of  the  German  army  and  the 
population. 

In  the  first  place,  I  hold  the  Communal  authorities  respon- 
sible for  the  spread  of  such  tendencies,  and  I  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  population  will  itself  be  responsible  if  the 
liberties  hitherto  accorded  in  the  most  ample  measure  are 
withdrawn  and  replaced  by  the  restrictive  measures  necessi- 
tated by  its  own  fault. 

Lieutenant-General  Graf  von  Westarp, 
Commandant  de  VEtape. 

June  19, 1915. 

The  German  justification  of  her  acts  in  Belgium  are 
to  be  found  in  her  laws  of  war:  — 

The  law  of  requisitions  has  no  other  limits  than  the  exhaus- 
tion, impoverishment,  and  destruction  of  the  country. 

Von  Hartmann  completes  and  defines  this:  — 

The  system  of  requisitions  goes  indefinitely  beyond  the 
simple  right  to  collect  provisions  in  the  country  where  war 
is  carried  on.  It  implies  the  full  exploitation  of  that  country 
in  all  respects  and  whatever  the  assistance  which  one  is  able 
to  promise  one's  self  from  it  for  the  army  operating  there, 
whether  to  facilitate  and  advance  its  actions,  or  to  promote 
its  endurance  and  ensure  its  safety. 

This  implies,  be  it  noted,  that  military  necessities  must  not 
establish  any  distinction  between  public  and  private  property 
and  that  the  army  claims  the  right  to  take  what  it  requires 
everywhere  and  in  such  a  manner  as  it  can  appropriate  it. 

The  seizure  of  enemy  territory  is  a  matter  of  course, 
"not  always,"  Clausewitz  says,  "with  the  intention  of 
keeping  it,  but  to  levy  war  contributions  upon  it, 
merely  in  order  to  lay  it  waste."  It  is  necessary  that  a 
cry  of  distress  should  arise  from  invaded  countries. 
Julius  von  Hartmann  adds :  — 

118 


THE  SPOLIATION   OF  BELGIUM 

Distress,  the  deep  misery  of  war,  must  not  be  spared  to 
the  enemy  State.  The  burden  must  be  and  must  remain 
crushing.  The  necessity  of  imposing  it  follows  from  the  very 
idea  of  national  war.  .  .  . 

That  individuals  may  be  severely  affected,  when  one 
makes  an  example  of  them  intended  to  serve  as  a  deterrent, 
is  truly  deplorable  for  them.  But  for  the  people  as  a  whole, 
this  severity  exercised  against  individuals  is  a  salutary 
blessing.  When  national  war  has  broken  out,  terrorism  be- 
comes a  principle  which  is  necessary  from  a  military  stand- 
point. 

Professor  Massart,  dealing  with  the  principal  causes 
of  famine  in  Belgium,  says :  — 

Let  us  consider  briefly  the  principal  causes  of  the  famine 
which  prevails  in  Belgium. 

1.  Exaggerated  requisitions,  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
resources  of  the  country.   They  are  of  two  kinds :  — 

Firstly,  those  which  have  emptied  the  country  of  grain, 
cattle,  forage,  and  other  foodstuffs. 

Then  the  requisitions  of  the  raw  materials  intended  for 
the  factories,  which  have  completely  paralyzed  industry, 
especially  in  Flanders.  One  example  will  suffice:  All  the 
workshops  of  Termonde  were  burned  save  one  —  the 
Escaut-Dendre  establishment,  which  makes  boots  and  shoes. 
But  the  Germans  sent  into  Germany  both  the  leather  and 
the  shoes  which  were  in  the  warehouse.  The  factory  is  thus 
condemned  to  stand  idle  for  lack  of  raw  material,  and  also 
for  lack  of  funds.  Those  industries  the  machinery  of  which 
has  been  removed  are  also,  of  course,  doomed  to  paralysis. 

2.  Having  made  a  clean  sweep  of  the  greater  portion  of  all 
that  was  indispensable  to  us,  the  Germans  have  been  careful 
to  take  our  money  from  us.  Under  every  imaginable  pretext, 
and  often  without  any  pretext  at  all,  they  have  imposed 
crushing  taxes  upon  us.  The  regular  payment  of  these  taxes 
showing  that  the  public  coffers  were  not  yet  quite  empty, 
the  Germans  hastened  to  impose  fines  upon  us,  which  vary 
from  five  francs  to  five  millions.  The  private  banks,  too,  are 

119 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

threatened  every  moment  with  the  removal  of  a  portion  of 
their  funds. 

By  Germany  our  country  was  condemned  to  perish  of 
starvation.  The  miracle  which  alone  could  save  us  has  been 
effected  by  the  charity  of  Spain,  Scandinavia,  Holland,  Italy, 
Switzerland,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  Canada,  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  Brazil,  and  above  all,  the  United  States. 

What  are  we  to  say,  for  example,  of  the  placard  posted  at 
Menin,  in  July,  1915,  by  order  of  the  Commandant  Schmidt, 
in  which  it  is  ordained  that  the  families  of  those  "  who  do 
not  work  regularly  on  the  military  works"  shall  be  allowed 
to  die  of  starvation?  — 

ORDER 

From  to-day  the  town  can  no  longer  grant  relief  — 
of  whatever  kind,  even  for  families,  women  and  chil- 
dren —  save  only  to  those  workmen  who  are  working 
regularly  on  the  military  works  and  on  other  works 
prescribed. 

All  other  workmen  and  their  families  cannot  hence- 
forth be  assisted  in  any  way  whatever. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  men  I  met  in  Germany 
was  Dr.  Rathenau,  son  of  the  founder  of  the  famous 
A.E.G.  (the  General  Electric  Company  of  Germany). 
He  gave  me  a  pamphlet  describing  his  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  war.  Dr.  Rathenau  suggested  to  the 
Government  the  necessity  for  a  census  of  all  raw 
materials  that  had  to  do  with  war.  He  was  at  once 
authorized  to  undertake  this  work.  The  pamphlet  he 
gave  me  is  a  report  of  a  speech  he  made  on  the  work  of 
the  bureau  he  organized.   I  quote  from  it:  — 

It  was  first  of  all  necessary  to  assure  ourselves  by  all  pos- 
sible means  an  increase  of  the  reserves  of  crude  materials, 
as  well  by  purchases  in  neutral  countries,  as  by  the  seizing 
of  stores  found  in  the  occupied  countries.  The  occupation  of 
Belgium,  of  the  part  of  France  industrially  most  important, 

120 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 

as  well  as  of  parts  of  the  Western  territory,  brought  new 
material  of  labor  to  the  Deutsche  Kriegsrohstoffabteilung.  It 
was  necessary  to  utilize  the  stocks  of  crude  material  of  these 
three  territories  for  the  national  economy  of  the  war,  espe- 
cially the  reserves  found  in  the  centers  of  the  continental 
wool  market;  also  the  important  reserves  of  rubber  and  of 
saltpetre  must  be  made  available  to  the  profit  of  the  national 
manufactures.  A  network  of  centers  of  expedition,  of  depots, 
and  of  organizations  of  distribution,  was  established;  the 
difficulties  of  transportation  were  removed;  new  blood,  ren- 
dering our  vitality  greater  and  more  enduring,  was  infused 
in  the  national  industry. 

A  more  detailed  and  equally  authoritative  account 
of  the  German  utilization  of  private  property  in  Bel- 
gium is  given  in  a  series  of  articles  appearing  Feb- 
ruary, 1915,  in  the  "Neueste  Nachrichten  "  of  Munich. 
These  articles  were  prepared  by  a  special  envoy,  Dr. 
Ludwig  Ganghofer.  Dealing  with  the  German  admin- 
istration in  Belgium  and  France,  he  says :  — 

The  entire  work  is  accomplished  in  virtue  of  the  principle : 
to  bring  the  least  possible  from  Germany  for  the  needs  of  the 
army;  to  draw  the  most  possible  from  the  conquered  enemy 
country;  and  everything  which  is  superfluous  for  the  army, 
but  which  can  be  utilized  at  home,  to  send  it  into  Germany. 

In  three  months  the  conquered  country  has  covered  four 
fifths  of  the  needs  of  the  army.  Even  now,  although  the 
available  resources  of  the  country  occupied  by  us  are  becom- 
ing scarcer,  the  conquered  country  still  covers  two  thirds  of 
the  needs  of  our  Army  of  the  West.  By  that  means,  accord- 
ing to  a  moderate  estimation,  a  saving  for  Germany  is  accom- 
plished of  three  millions  and  a  half  to  four  million  marks 
a  day. 

This  profit  of  the  German  victory  is  further  notably  in- 
creased by  the  profits  of  the  economic  war  carried  on  in  con- 
formity to  the  prescriptions  of  international  law  against 
the  conquered  territory,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  utilization  of 

121 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  property  of  the  State  transported  in  enormous  quantities 
from  Belgium  and  the  North  of  France,  into  Germany,— 
such  as  booty  of  war,  provisionings  of  fortresses,  cereals, 
wools,  metals,  precious  woods  and  other  products,  with  the 
exception  of  all  private  property  not  requisitioned,  which 
can  be  seized  in  case  of  necessity  to  increase  German  pro- 
visionments,  but  which  will  be  also  paid  for  at  its  entire 
value.  What  Germany  saves  and  gains  by  this  economic  war 
directed  in  a  commercial  spirit,  can  be  computed  daily  to 
six  or  seven  more  millions  of  marks,  so  that  the  total  profit 
realized  by  the  German  Empire  behind  the  Western  front, 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  may  be  counted  at  about 
two  billions  [marks] ;  which  is  for  Germany  a  glorious  victory, 
represented  by  the  saving  and  the  increase  of  its  economic 
power;  and  for  the  enemy,  a  crushing  defeat,  corresponding 
to  the  exhaustion  of  all  financial  resources  of  the  territory 
which  we  have  seized.  [This  was  during  the  first  six  months 
of  the  war.] 

Dr.  Ganghof er  continues :  — 

I  shall  have  again  to  refer  to  the  ramifications  and  to  the 
direction  of  this  economic  war.  Men  will  thus  learn  to  dis- 
card the  expression  of  "impractical  Germans." 

I  was  told  that  it  is  customary  when  the  German 
authorities  take  private  property  to  give  the  owner  an 
order  for  the  value  of  the  property,  but  this  order  is  to 
be  made  good  by  the  French  Government  in  the  case 
of  French  citizens  and  by  the  Belgian  Government,  or 
by  England  and  France,  in  the  case  of  Belgian  citizens. 

In  the  German  "Ofiicial  Monitor,"  published  at 
Brussels,  are  a  host  of  orders  of  seizures,  taxations, 
collections,  inventories,  declarations,  authorizations, 
restrictions,  interdictions,  etc.  Industry,  commerce, 
agriculture,  finances,  labor,  everything  is  here  passed 
through  the  sieve,  fanned,  ventilated,  levied  upon, 
successively  and  iteratively,  with  an  application,  a  per- 

122 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF   BELGIUM 

severance,  and  an  activity  equally  devouring.  It  is  as 
if  a  swarm  of  grasshoppers  had  settled  upon  the  country 
and  had  eaten  it  bare.  The  German  colonial  science 
has  an  expressive  word  to  define  this  particular  method 
of  exploitation  to  the  limit;  it  calls  it  "the  political 
economy  of  exhaustion"  (Raubswirtschaft) . 

It  is  impossible,  for  lack  of  space,  to  give  detailed 
and  complete  enumeration  of  the  objects  of  these 
measures.  Beginning  with  the  order  of  October  26, 
1914,  authorizing  the  "Commissary  of  the  Ministry 
of  War"  to  requisition  forty-four  articles  (crude 
materials),  completed  by  that  of  November  15,  1914 
(eighteen  new  articles) ,  and  by  that  of  December  20, 
1914  (seventeen  articles  more),  there  were  seized  in 
Belgium  on  order:  thousands  of  machines,  of  tool 
machines,  especially  of  American  engines  impossible 
to  replace,  pieces  of  machines;  metals,  especially 
copper,  which  was  taken  away  from  a  quantity  of  in- 
dustrial installations,  thus  rendering  them  unusable; 
lubricating  oils,  petroleum,  and  benzine;  stocks  of 
wool,  of  flax,  of  jute,  of  cotton,  of  threads  of  all  kinds, 
in  this  way  obliging  all  the  spinning  and  weaving  mills 
of  the  country  to  close  their  doors,  unless  their  admin- 
istrations would  consent  to  work  for  the  German  army. 
All  this  not  yet  being  enough,  they  proceeded  to  the 
seizure  or  the  mobilization  of  rubber,  of  tires  of  autos 
and  of  velocipedes,  transmission  belting,  steel  parts, 
automobiles,  locomotives,  motors  of  all  kinds,  ma- 
chines for  manufacturing  wood,  building-lumber,  wal- 
nut trees,  poplar  trees,  horses,  leathers  and  hides,  even 
to  and  including  the  skins  of  rabbits  and  cats,  cloths 
of  wool,  cotton,  and  silk,  ribbons,  bonneterie,  passe- 
menterie, etc. 

123 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Among  interdictions  or  restrictions  of  the  right  to 
import,  we  find  them  in  regard  to  materials  or  products 
of  which  Belgium  is  in  need,  but  of  which  Germany 
wishes  to  reserve  for  herself  the  quantities  to  be  had 
in  neutral  countries. 

"Le  Temps"  of  January  5,  1915,  publishes  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  "Frankfurter  Zeitung":  — 

The  goods  of  different  sorts  seized  in  the  enemies'  terri- 
tories are  in  such  large  quantities  that  the  difficulty  of  know- 
ing where  to  put  them  increases  day  by  day.  At  the  request 
of  the  Prussian  Minister  of  War  all  Chambers  of  Commerce 
have  been  asked  to  give  all  possible  information  with  regard 
to  storehouses,  sheds,  etc.,  which  could  be  used  temporarily 
to  warehouse  the  spoil. 

From  the  month  of  December,  1914,  the  Belgian 
provinces  were  solidly  subjected  to  a  permanent  and 
monthly  war  contribution  of  forty  millions  of  francs  a 
month,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  imposts  maintained 
in  their  entirety  and  increased  in  certain  respects. 
The  German  authorities  refusing  on  principle  to  ac- 
cept payment  in  marks,  the  contribution  had  to  be 
paid  chiefly  in  Belgian  francs.  After  having  brought  to 
Germany  nearly  a  billion  francs,  this  contribution  has 
been  increased  by  ten  million  francs  a  month,  and 
brought  thus  to  the  amount  of  fifty  millions  of  francs 
(orders  of  November  20,  1916).  Add  to  this:  the  impo- 
sition of  the  mark  at  a  forced  minimum  value  of  1  f r.  25 ; 
the  imposition  of  the  settlement  in  marks  of  the  part  of 
the  requisitions  which  was  paid  in  money;  the  absolute 
interdiction  of  the  exportation  of  money  even  to  pay 
for  the  provisions  necessary  for  feeding  the  civil 
population. 

When  all  these  measures  had  produced  their  natural 

124 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 

and  inevitable  effect:  the  inflation  of  the  marks  and 
their  engorgement  in  the  institutions  of  emission 
(National  Bank  and  General  Society),  the  German 
authorities  undertook  to  appropriate  to  themselves 
this  fund  of  savings;  they  opened  a  campaign  of 
summations  and  of  intimidation  (the  arbitrary  arrest 
and  deportation  of  Director  Carlier),  and  finally  forced 
the  banks  to  give  up  the  keys  of  their  vaults  by  impos- 
ing on  them  the  ultimatum  of  forced  and  immediate 
liquidation.  This  extortion  permitted  the  German 
authorities  to  transfer  for  forced  investment  in  Ger- 
many more  than  four  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of 
marks,  the  property  of  the  two  banks,  which  are  pri- 
vate companies  and  not  State  institutions. 

When  I  was  in  Belgium  last  February  (1916)  I  was 
told  by  an  unusually  well-informed  German  officer  that 
Belgium  was  ruined.  The  finances  and  currency  of 
Belgium  are  not  quite  so  badly  ruined  as  those  of 
Mexico,  but  have  suffered  in  somewhat  the  same 
way. 

The  removal  of  machinery  from  her  factories  is  a 
vital  blow,  as  Belgium  is  mainly  a  manufacturing  na- 
tion. The  money  and  property  taken  from  Belgium  rep- 
resent the  greater  part  of  the  movable  resources  of  the 
country.  If  the  United  States  had  been  robbed  in  two 
and  a  half  years  of  fourteen  billion  dollars,  and  had  had 
to  contribute  one  billion  four  hundred  millions  a  year 
to  pay  for  an  army  of  occupation,  besides  the  ordinary 
taxes;  had  had  to  secure  from  the  outside  over  one 
billion  dollars  worth  of  food  a  year,  and  was  absolutely 
incapacitated  to  manufacture,  to  import,  or  to  export, 
our  country  would  be  in  the  same  condition  as  is 
Belgium,  if  all  the  people  in  the  United  States  had  only 

125 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

a  little  more  than  one  half  of  Texas  in  which  to  raise 
food. 

The  American  Commission,  acting  as  agent  for 
the  money  subscribed  to  support  the  Belgian  people, 
reports  that  tuberculosis  has  increased  in  Belgium  five 
hundred  per  cent  on  account  of  insufficient  food.  Of 
the  seventy -five  million  dollars  a  year  that  the  Com- 
mission has  at  its  disposal,  sixty  millions  is  the  sum 
advanced  by  the  English  Government.  The  voluntary 
offerings  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  very 
small  compared  to  the  needs  of  the  Belgian  people.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
should  meet  this  appalling  and  heart-breaking  situa- 
tion by  voting  an  annual  sum  that  would  prevent  the 
partial  destruction  of  the  Belgian  people. 

Maurice  Maeterlinck  gives  this  picture  of  Belgium 
to-day : — 

A  Cry  of  Distress 

But  little  is  known  of  what  is  going  on  in  Belgium  and  in 
the  invaded  departments  [of  France].  From  time  to  time  a 
scandal  more  notorious  than  others  is  declared  —  an  assas- 
sination of  heroic  patriots,  monstrous  drives  of  slaves  in  the 
North,  the  disquieting  deportation  of  young  Belgians  able 
to  bear  arms,  the  robbery  of  six  hundred  millions  of  francs 
from  the  National  Bank,  and  so  many  other  such  things  that 
they  cannot  be  recounted,  for  the  mind  quickly  wearies  of 
misfortune  and  horror. 

A  recent  article  in  the  "  Daily  News,"  which  I  should  have 
thought  exaggerated  and  incredible  had  it  not  been  con- 
firmed by  private  and  sure  information  which  I  have  re- 
ceived of  the  fearful  condition  of  my  unhappy  country  to- 
day, described  without  prejudice,  with  the  impartiality  and 
the  moderation  of  a  conscientious  witness,  the  situation  of 
Belgium,  which  is  daily  growing  more  agonizing  and  more 
abominable. 

126 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 

It  is  well  known  that  the  admirable  American  intervention 
has  literally  saved  from  death  by  hunger  more  than  half  of 
the  Belgian  population.  Indeed,  all  industry  is  dead,  the 
factories  are  closed  and  the  machinery  of  the  greater  part  of 
them  has  been  taken  down  and  sent  away  to  Germany. 
These  unfortunates,  then,  have  nothing  to  live  on  but  the 
distributions  of  bread  and  soup  which,  thanks  to  the  mag- 
nificent generosity  of  Americans  and  to  the  devotion  of  all, 
are  admirably  organized  in  all  the  centers  of  population. 

The  correspondent  of  the  "Daily  News,"  who  has  seen  it 
with  his  own  eyes,  describes  to  us  the  sad  and  solemn  spec- 
tacle of  these  crowds  which  every  day,  for  so  many,  many 
days,  patiently  stand  and  wait  for  the  meager  dole  of  food 
which  prolongs  life  without  delivering  from  death.  These 
crowds  do  not  consist  of  the  poor.  Among  them  are  no  rags 
and  none  of  the  abandon  of  poverty.  Those  who  stand  there 
have  never  held  out  the  hand  to  receive  an  alms.  They  are 
neatly  dressed,  resigned,  silent  and  dignified.  But  all,  from 
the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  and  especially  the  youngest,  show 
the  sunken  and  unmistakable  faces,  the  wan  and  character- 
istic faces,  of  those  who  for  nearly  hvo  years  have  not  eaten 
enough  food  to  satisfy  their  hunger ! 

Tuberculosis,  too,  is  beginning  to  work  its  frightful  rav- 
ages on  these  emaciated  throngs.  As  always  is  the  case,  it 
attacks  preferably  the  young  men,  the  women,  and  the  chil- 
dren, cutting  off  in  their  flower  the  vital  powers  of  the 
nation.  At  Brussels  alone  hundreds  of  new  cases  are  reported 
every  day;  and  in  certain  centers  where  the  laboring  popula- 
tion is  more  dense,  notably  at  Ghent,  at  Liege,  at  Alost,  the 
plague  is  spreading  with  alarming  rapidity  and  virulence.  It 
involves  the  salvation  and  the  future  of  a  race. 

What  can  be  done,  and  what  remedy  can  be  found? 

Shall  we  redouble  our  aid?  Certainly,  if  it  is  possible.  Shall 
we  call  once  more  on  the  outraged  conscience  and  humanity 
of  neutrals?  Perhaps:  we  do  not  easily  lose  the  habit  of 
hoping  against  all  hope.  But,  in  any  case,  we  must  at  pres- 
ent write  down  this  crime,  more  perfidious  than  all  others 
of  the  long  and  somber  list  of  crimes  which  we  will  hold  in 
remembrance  on  the  coming  day  of  settlement  of  accounts. 

127 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  spirit  of  Belgium  is  eloquently  expressed  by 
Baron  Beyens :  — 

If  Europe  turns  aside  from  the  sight  of  this  indomitable 
resistance,  and  looks  at  our  country,  what  does  she  see  there? 
The  head  of  the  Belgian  clergy,  the  very  incarnation  of  civic 
patriotism  and  priestly  virtues,  stimulating  his  flock  to 
courage  and  endurance,  caring  nought  for  coercion  or  threats, 
and  awaiting  with  full  trust  in  the  Divine  Judge  the  day 
when  in  his  church  (not  spared,  alas!  by  the  invader)  he 
shall  celebrate  the  Te  Deum  of  our  deliverance.  Everywhere 
she  sees  devotion  to  the  Fatherland  and  to  Christian  solidar- 
ity :  she  sees  the  Burgomaster  of  Brussels,  whose  brave  voice 
could  only  be  silenced  by  imprisonment,  although  even  now 
his  memory  and  his  example  still  hover,  as  an  ever-present 
encouragement,  above  his  fellow-citizens  and  his  city;  she 
sees  men  who  yesterday  were  rich,  heads  of  banks  that  to- 
day are  closed  and  of  workshops  that  to-day  are  empty, 
joining  with  the  intellectual  flower  of  Brussels  citizens  to 
provide  for  the  poor,  to  insure  that  the  people  shall  not  die 
of  hunger  and  privation;  she  sees  women  of  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions turned  into  Sisters  of  Charity;  she  sees  fathers  and 
mothers,  stricken  to  the  heart  by  the  death  of  their  sons  or 
anxious  as  to  their  fate,  living  often  in  homes  that  the  enemy 
has  rifled,  yet  with  calm,  tearless  eyes  and  faces  ennobled 
by  sacrifice;  and  last  of  all  she  sees,  behind  the  classes  that 
once  were  privileged,  the  admirable  crowd,  the  army  of 
humble  toilers,  stoically  enduring  their  forced  loss  of  work 
or  their  inability  to  help  their  country,  watching  in  grim 
silence  the  countless  dead  and  wounded  brought  in  from  the 
enemy  regiments,  who  do  not  cease  to  dye  with  their  blood 
that  Belgian  soil  where  they  thought  they  had  only  to 
appear  in  order  to  conquer! 

No,  such  a  people  cannot  die.  The  Belgian  soul,  whose 
existence  some  dared  to  deny,  has  gained  a  new  temper  from 
the  flame  of  battle,  and  it  still  lives  to-day,  more  vigorous 
than  ever,  to  realize  our  national  motto — "Union  makes 
Strength."  But  Belgium  is  not  yet  at  the  end  of  her  long 
ordeal,  at  the  limit  of  her  travail,  or  on  the  eve  of  drying  her 

128 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 

tears.  The  iron  monster  of  German  militarism  cannot  be 
battered  down  in  a  day.  I  have  seen  him  at  too  close  quar- 
ters preparing  and  arming  for  the  fray  to  have  any  delusions 
on  that  score.  The  league  of  his  adversaries  has  swollen  in 
number  and  grown  in  power;  but  at  present  this  only  whets 
his  rage,  and  thus  for  the  time  being  his  might,  like  that  of  a 
man  who  suddenly  goes  mad,  is  redoubled.  Germany  is  not 
yet  near  to  waking  up,  with  a  start,  from  her  tragic  dream  of 
triumph  and  domination.  The  day  of  liberation  is  slow  to 
dawn  for  us,  and  we  still  have  a  long  agony  to  go  through. 
But  let  no  Belgian,  whether  he  has  been  forced  to  take  the 
road  of  exile,  or  is  suffering,  with  no  word  of  complaint,  the 
well-nigh  intolerable  contact  with  the  oppressor  —  let  no 
Belgian  become  for  a  single  instant  a  prey  to  discouragement 
or  despair !  The  hour  will  strike  without  fail  from  the  belfries 
of  our  town  halls  and  the  steeples  of  our  churches  —  the 
hour  when  our  country,  reconquered  and  ten  times  more 
dear,  will  press  to  her  lacerated  bosom  all  her  sons,  once 
more  united  in  an  equal  love  for  their  common  mother;  the 
hour  when  Belgium  will  recover  her  place  among  the  nations, 
a  loftier  place  than  ever,  owing  to  her  valor  in  the  combat 
and  her  steadfastness  in  adversity. 

I  can  close  this  chapter  fittingly  by  quoting  from 
the  last  writings  of  Emile  Verhaeren,  which  he  gave  to 
an  American  to  have  published  in  America.  Catherine 
D.  Groth,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  bring  these  writings 
to  America,  published  this  little  essay  in  the  New  York 
"Evening  Post  Magazine"  of  January  20,  1917.  In  a 
brief  introduction  she  says:  — 

Few  felt  the  war  as  keenly  as  Verhaeren.  Not  only  was  he 
Belgian  to  the  core,  but  he  had  always  been  an  ardent 
pacifist.  All  his  efforts  had  tended  toward  increasing  human 
happiness,  and  war  had  always  seemed  to  him  an  unpardon- 
able blot.  He  had  the  keenest  sympathy  for  Germany, 
where  he  was  much  appreciated.  His  best  biography,  in 
fact,  was  written  by  an  Austrian. 

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OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

When  the  war  came,  Verhaeren  suffered,  not  merely  as  a 
Belgian  in  seeing  his  country  ruined,  its  precious  art  de- 
stroyed, its  monuments  wrecked,  —  every  stone  of  which  he 
knew  and  loved,  —  but  as  a  human  being  he  was  hurt  in  his 
inmost  spirit.  It  was  as  if  Germany's  dastardly  action  had 
knocked  the  very  ground  away  from  under  his  feet.  His  faith 
in  humanity  began  to  shake.  I  shall  never  forget  how  one 
day,  about  a  year  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  when  sitting 
on  a  balcony  overlooking  Paris,  and  talking  about  Belgium's 
heroism  in  the  early  days  of  the  German  invasion,  he  dwelt 
again  and  again  on  the  idea :  — 

"And  we  had  always  looked  upon  them  as  our  friends!" 
For  the  first  time  in  his  life,  through  the  war,  this  great 
man,  whose  gospel  had  always  been  greater  and  greater 
breadth  of  heart,  learned  the  meaning  of  hate. 

Proud  Belgium 
By  Emile  Verhaeren 

No  matter  how  desperate  their  plight  may  seem,  Belgians 
have  no  right  to  lament  or  to  dwell  on  their  misery.  They 
owe  it  to  themselves  to  be  worthy  of  their  soldiers,  who  were 
all  heroes. 

That  women  driven  from  their  villages  with  a  flock  of 
children  hanging  at  their  skirts  weep  as  they  walk  the  high- 
roads of  hunger,  exile,  and  suffering  —  that  is  natural.  But 
men,  and  especially  those  who  are  capable  of  thought  or 
action,  must  not  echo  the  cries  of  sorrow. 

They  who  before  the  war  dreamt  of  a  Greater  Belgium 
did  not  wish  for  more  territory  in  Europe,  or  for  greater 
colonial  expansion  in  Africa.  They  longed  only  for  a  Belgian 
renascence,  economical  and  intellectual.  Their  goal  was  a 
more  active  and  perfected  industrial  life ;  a  mode  of  thinking 
more  audacious  and  alive.  They  sought  influence,  not  con- 
quest. 

Yet  in  all  its  history  Belgium's  influence  has  never  been  as 
great  as  to-day.  True,  our  factories  have  been  silenced,  and 
seem  to  have  lost  their  pulsating  life  and  their  ardent  breath. 
But  they  are  not  dead.  As  soon  as  the  war  is  over  they  will 

130 


THE  SPOLIATION  OF  BELGIUM 

awaken  like  extraordinary  monsters.  No  matter  how  heavy 
the  cover  of  ashes,  their  thousands  of  tentacles  will  shake  it 
off  with  ease,  as  they  begin  to  stretch  and  move  in  the  reborn 
day. 

We  will  be  younger  and  more  ready  than  ever  before. 
Until  to-day,  danger  had  never  visited  our  nation.  We  lived 
from  day  to  day,  with  no  thought  of  the  morrow.  We  were 
busied  with  our  own  petty  quarrels,  intent  on  being  lawyers, 
shopkeepers,  or  postmasters,  instead  of  citizens.  We  were 
like  the  rich  who  do  not  know  poverty.  War,  we  felt,  was 
the  affair  of  other  nations. 

And  then  it  came  upon  us,  ferocious  and  overwhelming, 
when  we  least  expected  it.  Like  a  mountain  whose  sides 
should  suddenly  crack  and  topple,  William's  Empire  fell 
upon  us.  We  were  all  alone  and  few  in  number.  We  were 
treacherously  attacked.  We  rallied  hastily  in  Liege,  in  our 
old  forts.  We  had  to  improvise  our  courage,  invent  our  de- 
fense, and  awaken  a  new  soul  within  us.  And  we  did  it  all  in 
one  day,  one  hour,  one  instant.   We  astounded  the  world. 

Oh,  how  wonderful  they  were,  those  moments  of  sublime 
recklessness  and  glory!  Some  there  were  who  at  the  sight 
of  our  little  army  marching  to  the  front  could  not  help  a 
murmur:  — 

"  Cannon  food  —  nothing  but  cannon  food.  We  have  no 
army,  no  generals,  no  forts." 

Four  days  later  a  name,  unknown  even  the  night  before, 
was  on  all  lips.  The  urchins  disguised  themselves  as  General 
Leman;  young  girls  sold  his  picture  in  the  streets.  And  the 
same  little  soldiers  that  we  had  pitied  as  cannon  food  came 
back  to  Brussels  from  the  battlefield,  their  arms  full  of 
Prussian  helmets.  They  were  timid  and  elated  at  the  same 
time,  unable  to  realize  the  admirable  part  they  had  been 
playing.  Women  kissed  them,  and  we  carried  them  in  tri- 
umph. Exalted  moments  of  fever  and  pride!  The  weather 
was  radiant.  The  air  seemed  golden.  One  inhaled  the  sun 
as  well  as  heroism. 

Our  first  successes  at  Liege,  followed  by  those  at  Haelen, 
Aerschot,  Alost,  Dixmude,  and  Furnes,  have  for  all  eternity 
imposed  Belgium  on  the  respect,  regard,  and  admiration  of 

131 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  world.  For  nearly  three  weeks  we  held  back  the  enor- 
mous German  forces.  They  had  counted  on  disposing  of  us 
in  three  days.  We  knocked  the  most  convincing  holes  in 
their  doctrine  of  invincibility.  Like  moving  blocks,  elbow 
to  elbow,  cemented  one  to  the  other,  they  marched  on  our 
forts.  Before  the  assault  they  cried:  "  Kaiser!  Kaiser!"  And 
the  Belgian  mitrailleuses  replied  with  a  dry,  crackling  noise. 
One  after  another  they  fell,  in  rows,  as  a  pack  of  cards.  The 
light  from  a  wandering  Zeppelin  played  over  their  agonizing 
faces.  A  long  wail  arose  and  grew  weaker.  Soon  all  was 
silence  and  death. 

That  our  desperate  resistance  enabled  France  and  Eng- 
land to  mass  their  forces  and  organize  their  campaign  of 
salvation,  that  is  not  for  us  to  repeat  or  insist  on. 

If  we  only  bear  in  mind  the  immense  service  which  we 
rendered  the  Occident  and  humanity,  our  hearts  can  be  filled 
with  nothing  but  pride.  Tears  or  lamentations  would  be  a 
dishonor.  Let  us  say  to  ourselves  that,  of  all  nations,  Bel- 
gium was  chosen  to  fulfill  one  of  the  greatest  destinies;  she 
had  the  honor  of  forming  the  first  and  most  decisive  barrier 
of  the  rampart  which  modern  civilization  erected  against 
ferocity  and  military  barbarism,  and  her  story  will  be  in- 
scribed with  those  of  the  few  immortal  peoples. 

That  is  why  many  feel  that  Belgium  dates  from  yesterday 
only.  Never  has  she  been  as  real,  as  powerful,  as  now,  when, 
deprived  of  all  territory,  she  has  for  emblem  and  standard 
only  the  banner  of  her  King. 

The  people  of  Belgium  have  one  infinite  compensa- 
tion. They  are  the  victims,  not  the  aggressor. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SUBMARINE  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  RAIL  POWER 

versus  SEA  POWER 

The  submarine  differs  from  other  warships  in  a  most 
important  respect.  It  introduces  the  factor  of  almost 
permanent  invisibility.  It  cannot  be  destroyed  by 
other  submarines,  and  it  can  usually  elude  all  kinds  of 
warships.  In  this  particular  war  the  Central  Powers 
being  blockaded  and  their  mercantile  marine  excluded 
from  the  sea,  their  principal  naval  aim  is  to  destroy  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  mercantile  marine  afloat.  For 
this  is  a  war  between  rail  power  and  sea  power.  War, 
like  industry,  depends  for  its  very  existence  upon  trans- 
portation. Germany  and  her  allies  can  reach  all  battle- 
fronts  by  rail.  Thus  far  Germany  and  her  allies  have 
produced  all  supplies  for  the  civil  population  and  for 
their  armies  from  their  own  territory  or  territory 
occupied  by  their  armies.  Germany  believes  that  the 
Central  Powers  constitute  a  self-supporting  world  in 
this  war,  and  are  independent  of  the  sea. 

The  belief  of  the  German  naval  experts  is  that  the 
submarine  could,  if  used  "ruthlessly,"  destroy  so 
much  of  the  world's  shipping  as  to  starve  out  England 
and  deprive  France  of  her  imports  of  coal  and  steel. 
Without  these  imports  France's  munition  factories 
would  soon  be  closed. 

In  fact  the  German  authorities  and  the  German 
people  look  to  the  submarine  as  the  surest  weapon  to 
secure  success. 

133 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I  found  no  one  in  Germany  who  did  not  most  heartily 
and  completely  approve  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania, 
and  should  Germany  repeat  the  act,  all  Germany 
would  approve.  There  was  a  mingled  feeling  of  con- 
tempt and  dislike  for  the  victims.  They  were  looked 
upon  as  wealthy  and  impudent  Americans,  who,  in 
spite  of  being  warned  by  the  Imperial  Government, 
sailed  on  a  ship  that  Germans  regarded  as  a  warship. 

I  had  great  difficulty  in  understanding  the  German 
submarine  rules  and  practice,  and  finally  I  was  given 
a  document  prepared  under  the  authority  of  the 
Government,  which  I  reproduce  herewith :  — 

(1)  In  using  her  submarine  weapon,  Germany  distin- 
guishes between  hostile  and  neutral  ships. 

Enemy  men-of-war  are  torpedoed  without  warning. 
Armed  enemy  merchantmen  are  considered  as  warships:  this 
is  done  for  the  reason  that  their  commanders  have  received 
the  orders  published  in  the  German  memorandum  of  Febru- 
ary 8,  1916,  concerning  the  treatment  of  armed  enemy 
merchantmen,  to  open  fire  on  every  German  submarine  at 
sight  even  before  any  hostile  act  has  been  committed;  this 
renders  a  warning  from  the  submarine  impossible.  Enemy 
merchantmen  are  also  sunk  without  warning  in  the  war  zone, 
i.e.,  the  waters  around  the  British  Isles  mentioned  in  the 
proclamation  of  February  4,  1915.  An  exception  is  made, 
however,  for  enemy  passenger  steamers  (liners)  which  for 
reasons  of  humanity  are  not  sunk,  even  in  the  war  zone, 
without  warning  and  only  after  saving  the  lives  of  passengers 
and  crew. 

(2)  As  for  neutral  ships  Germany  respects  both  the  rights 
of  neutrals  and  the  principles  of  humanity,  i.e.,  neutral 
merchantmen  are  sunk  only  if  they  carry  contraband  and 
cannot  be  brought  into  port  by  a  prize  crew.  No  neutral  ship 
is  sunk  without  previously  establishing  her  identity  and 
cargo,  and  only  after  saving  the  lives  of  passengers  and 
crew.   This  also  applies  to  neutral  ships  in  the  war  zone. 

134 


THE  SUBMARINE 

(3)  Germany  takes  into  consideration  the  principles  of 
humanity  inasmuch  as  she  never  sinks  enemy  passenger 
steamers  (liners)  without  warning  and  only  after  saving  the 
lives  of  passengers  and  crew.  As  a  part  of  the  enemy  pas- 
senger steamers  are  armed,  and  as  the  English  Admiralty 
orders  which  were  found  on  British  ships  and  published  in 
the  German  memorandum  of  February  8,  1916,  give  every 
reason  to  expect  that  they  will  use  their  armament  for  offen- 
sive purposes,  it  is  possible  that  a  naval  fight  may  take  place 
between  such  an  armed  passenger  boat  and  the  German 
naval  forces.  For  this  reason  it  is  advisable  for  neutral  pas- 
sengers to  avoid  traveling  on  armed  enemy  passenger  boats. 

(4)  In  order  to  maintain  the  international  passenger 
traffic  of  neutrals  the  German  Government  several  months 
ago  suggested  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  neutral 
Governments  and  to  designate  as  absolutely  safe  certain 
specially  marked  neutral  steamers  which  would  follow  cer- 
tain routes  previously  agreed  upon  (vide  note  handed  to 
American  Ambassador  on  July  8,  1915). 

Berlin,  April  15,  1916. 

This  is  a  sufficiently  formidable  document,  as  it 
was  interpreted  by  the  submarine  commanders,  but 
the  new  submarine  policy  of  Germany  has  thrown 
all  law  and  decency  to  the  winds.  Her  lawless  and 
heartless  acts  in  Belgium  now  find  their  counterpart 
on  the  sea. 

The  German  naval  authorities  believe  that  England 
can  be  forced  to  surrender  from  starvation  by  the 
ruthless  use  of  the  submarine.  An  expert  on  the  sub- 
marine said  to  me,  "We  can  starve  England  into  sub- 
mission in  five  weeks  if  America  will  not  interfere." 

The  noted  naval  writer,  Captain  Persius,  comment- 
ing on  the  German  White  Book  recently  issued,  con- 
taining the  correspondence  between  Germany  and  the 
United  States  on  the  submarine  controversy  says :  — 

135 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  had  it  in  their 
power  to  destroy  all  differences  of  opinion  at  their  source, 
and  do  away  with  all  the  difficulties  of  submarine  war.  If 
only  they  had  undertaken  to  guarantee  that  no  merchant 
ship  would  be  armed,  Germany  would  then,  on  her  part, 
have  undertaken  that  no  merchant  ship  should  be  attacked 
without  warning. 

On  February  8,  1915,  the  German  Government  transmit- 
ted a  memorandum  to  this  effect  to  the  United  States  and 
to  all  other  neutral  countries.  Her  point  of  view  is  unassail- 
able. Unfortunately,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
did  not  reply  to  this  message.  We  hope  we  shall  not  again 
have  to  pass  through  such  a  correspondence. 

We  have  constantly  emphasized  the  declaration  of  the 
German  Government,  that  war  between  Germany  and  the 
United  States  would  be  inexcusable.  This  ought  to  receive 
the  consent  of  the  German  people.  We  have  expressed  our 
confidence  that  our  Government  would  find  a  way  out  of  the 
labyrinth  of  international  law  which  is  compatible  with  a 
peace  policy. 

In  a  recent  contribution  to  the  "  Berliner  Tageblatt," 
Captain  Persius  says :  — 

Almost  the  whole  production  of  the  world  outside  Europe 
is  at  the  service  of  our  enemies,  but  does  them  no  good  if, 
as  a  result  of  the  shortage  of  freight  space,  they  can  make  no 
use  of  it.  .  .  .  The  main  causes  of  the  shortage  of  freight 
space  are  the  sinking  of  numerous  merchant  ships,  the  con- 
fiscation by  the  Government  for  military  purposes  of  a  great 
part  of  the  mercantile  marine,  the  reduced  construction  of 
new  merchant  ships,  losses  due  to  the  war,  capture  for 
carrying  contraband,  running  upon  mines,  and  so  on. 

Captain  Persius  ends  his  article  as  follows :  — 

We  look  to  the  future  full  of  confidence  in  the  efficiency  of 
our  submarine  arm,  which,  one  may  with  certainty  expect, 
will  constantly  increase  in  strength.  We  hope  that  the  short- 
age of  tonnage  already  prevailing  among  our  enemies  can  be 

136 


THE  SUBMARINE 

brought  up  to  the  point  at  which  it  will  be  intolerable,  and 
this  will  surely  be  of  considerable  importance  for  the  mili- 
tary situation. 

The  " Rheinisch-Westf alische  Zeitung"  says:  — 

We  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  continuation  of 
cruiser  warfare  with  submarines  to  the  present  extent  will 
bring  Great  Britain  to  the  verge  of  ruin  within  a  year.  Our 
submarines  can  conquer  England. 

In  a  sense,  every  ship  that  floats  is  in  the  German 
mind  an  asset  of  her  enemies.  If  she  could  largely 
destroy  the  shipping  of  the  world,  England  and  France 
must  yield  and  accept  peace  on  German  terms. 

The  handicap  under  which  France  labors  is  set  forth 
clearly  by  Henri  Berenger,  of  the  French  Senate,  in 
the  chapter,  "Why  Did  Germany  Invade  Belgium?" 

Even  if  France  could  supply  herself  with  everything 
excepting  coal  and  iron,  she  must  become  quickly 
helpless  if  imports  are  cut  off. 

The  task  of  the  British  naval  and  mercantile  marine 
is  stupendous.  Germany  does  not  fear  Great  Britain's 
navy.  It  cannot  reach  her  or  any  of  her  allies.  Sea 
power  in  this  war  means  merchant  ships.  Germany 
can  win  the  war  only  in  one  of  two  ways:  either  by 
securing  a  separate  peace  with  Russia,  thereby 
enormously  increasing  her  rail  power,  or  by  destroying 
so  many  ships  that  England  cannot  import  food,  raw 
materials,  and  munitions,  for  herself  and  allies,  and, 
further,  by  the  same  course  rendering  it  impossible  for 
England  to  support  her  forces  at  Salonika  and  Egypt. 
Germany  can  interfere  with  the  communications  of 
the  Allies.  The  Allies  cannot  interfere  with  Germany's 
communications. 

Further  views  are  given  by  Dr.  Flamm,  Professor 

137 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

of  Ship  Construction  at  the  Technical  High  School 
at  Charlottenburg,  who  publishes  in  the  "Vossische 
Zeitung"  an  extraordinary  article  on  the  impending 
destruction  of  the  British  Empire  by  German  sub- 
marines. He  begins  by  explaining  how  England  has 
been  protected  for  centuries  by  her  insularity.  He 
writes :  — 

This  country,  whose  dishonorable  Government  produced 
this  terrible  world-war  by  the  most  contemptible  means, 
and  solely  in  selfish  greed  of  gain,  has  always  been  able  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  its  unscrupulousness  because  it  was  reck- 
oned as  unassailable.  But  everything  is  subject  to  change, 
and  that  applies  to-day  to  the  security  of  England's  position. 
Thank  God,  the  time  has  now  come  when  precisely  its  com- 
plete encirclement  by  the  seas  has  become  the  greatest  dan- 
ger for  the  existence  of  the  British  nation. 

The  writer  explains  that  England  cannot  be  self- 
supporting.   He  proceeds :  — 

Technical  progress,  in  the  shape  of  submarines,  has  put 
into  the  hands  of  all  England's  enemies  the  means  at  last  to 
sever  the  vital  nerve  of  the  much-hated  enemy,  and  to  pull 
him  down  from  his  position  of  ruler  of  the  world,  which  he 
has  occupied  for  centuries  with  ever-increasing  ruthlessness 
and  selfishness.  This  exalted  and  noble  aim  has  to-day  come 
within  reach,  and  it  is  German  intellect  and  German  work 
that  have  paved  the  way. 

England  must  reckon  with  the  fact  that  her  world- 
supremacy  cannot  much  longer  exist,  and  that  the  strongest 
navy  can  make  no  difference.  When  once  the  invisible  neck- 
tie is  round  John  Bull's  neck,  his  breathing  will  soon  cease, 
and  the  task  of  successfully  putting  this  necktie  on  him  is 
solely  the  question  of  technical  progress  and  of  time,  which 
now  moves  so  fast.  .  .  . 

Thus  before  very  long  a  world  fate  should  befall  England. 


J38 


THE  SUBMARINE 

Rail  Power  versus  Sea  Power 

The  American  Civil  War  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  great  war  in  which  railroads  played  a  vital  part. 
The  Russo-Japanese  War  (1904-05)  was  the  first 
great  war  that  was  distinctly  a  war  of  rail  power 
versus  sea  power.  Soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
Russo-Japanese  War,  I  had  a  talk  with  General 
Kuropatkin,  as  to  the  reasons  for  Russia's  failure.  He 
said  that  if  the  Siberian  Railway  had  been  a  double- 
track  in  place  of  a  single-track  road,  the  issue  of  the 
war  would  have  been  different.  If  the  capacity  of  the 
road  had  been  only  twenty  per  cent  greater,  Russia 
would  have  won;  and  in  an  article  in  "McClure's 
Magazine,"  General  Kuropatkin  wrote:  — 

If  these  lines  had  been  more  efficient,  we  would  have 
brought  up  our  troops  more  rapidly,  and,  as  things  turned 
out,  150,000  men  concentrated  at  first  would  have  been  of 
far  more  value  to  us  than  the  300,000  who  were  gradually 
assembled  during  nine  months,  only  to  be  sacrificed  in  de- 
tail. ...  If  we  had  had  a  better  railway  and  had  been  able 
to  mass  at  Liao-yang  the  number  specified,  we  should  un- 
doubtedly have  won  the  day  in  spite  of  our  mistakes. 

Edwin  A.  Pratt  writes  in  "The  Rise  of  Rail  Power": 

Kuropatkin  himself  certainly  did  all  he  could  to  improve 
the  transport  conditions.  In  a  statement  he  submitted  to 
the  Tsar  on  March  7,  1904,  he  declared  that  of  all  urgently 
pressing  questions  that  of  bettering  the  railway  communica- 
tion between  Russia  and  Siberia  was  the  most  important; 
and  he  added:  "  It  must,  therefore,  be  taken  up  at  once,  in 
spite  of  the  enormous  cost.  The  money  expended  will  not 
be  wasted;  it  will,  on  the  contrary,  be  in  the  highest  sense 
productive  inasmuch  as  it  will  shorten  the  duration  of  the 
war." 

What  the  railways  did  was  to  enable  the  Russians  to  col- 

139 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

lect  at  the  theater  of  war,  by  the  time  the  war  itself  came  to 
an  end,  an  army  of  one  million  men,  —  of  whom  two  thirds 
had  not  yet  been  under  fire,  —  together  with  machine  guns, 
howitzers,  shells,  small-arm  ammunition,  field  railways, 
wireless  telegraphy,  supplies,  and  technical  stores  of  all 
kinds.   Kuropatkin  says  of  this  achievement:  — 

The  War  Department  had,  with  the  cooperation  of 
other  departments,  successfully  accomplished  a  most 
colossal  task.  What  single  authority  would  have  ad- 
mitted, a  few  years  ago,  the  possibility  of  concentrating 
an  army  of  a  million  men  fifty -four  hundred  miles  away 
from  its  base  of  supply  and  equipment  by  means  of  a 
poorly  constructed  single-line  railway? 

Russia,  in  fact,  agreed  to  make  peace  at  a  time  when  the 
prospect  of  her  being  able  to  secure  a  victory  was  greater 
than  it  had  been  at  any  time  during  the  earlier  phases  of 
the  war;  but  the  Japanese  failed  to  attain  all  they  had  hoped 
for,  the  primary  causes  of  such  failure,  in  spite  of  their  re- 
peated victories,  being,  as  told  in  the  British  "  Official  His- 
tory" of  the  war,  that  "Port  Arthur  held  out  longer  than 
had  been  expected,  and  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway  enabled 
Russia  to  place  more  men  in  the  field  than  had  been  thought 
possible." 

Thus,  in  respect  to  rail  power,  at  least,  Russia  still 
achieved  a  remarkable  feat  in  her  transport  of  an  army  so 
great  a  distance  by  a  single-track  line  of  railway.  Such  an 
achievement  was  unexampled,  while,  although  Fate  was 
against  the  ultimate  success  of  her  efforts,  Russia  provided 
the  world  with  a  fresh  object  lesson  as  to  what  might  have 
been  done,  in  a  campaign  waged  more  than  five  thousand 
miles  from  the  base  of  supplies,  if  only  the  line  of  rail  com- 
munication had  been  equal  from  the  first  to  the  demands  it 
was  called  upon  to  meet. 

In  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan,  the  long 
distance  (fifty-four  hundred  miles)  over  a  single-track 
road,  compared  to  the  short  sea  passage  for  Japan, 
gave  the  first  campaign  in  favor  of  Japan.    This  was 

140 


THE  SUBMARINE 

absolutely  a  war  in  which  transportation  was  by  rail 
as  against  sea.  It  is  not  precisely  parallel  to  this  war, 
because  Russia  was  not  blockaded,  and  further,  be- 
cause the  resources  of  Russia  were  much  greater  than 
those  of  Japan;  while  in  the  present  war,  up  to  this 
time,  the  power  of  the  respective  belligerents  has 
been  more  nearly  equal. 

I  was  constantly  told  in  Germany  that  the  natural 
resources  and  manufacturing  and  agricultural  re- 
sources and  abilities,  controlled  by  Germany  and  her 
allies,  could  enable  Germany  to  wage  war  for  years.  I 
was  told  that  the  two  million  Russian  prisoners  were 
a  most  vital  factor  in  her  agriculture.  Given  sufficient 
natural  resources,  it  becomes  merely  a  question  of 
man  power.  For  this  reason,  we  see  the  Belgians  being 
impressed  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  the  Poles  being 
drawn  upon.  Even  the  Servians  are  being  taken  by  the 
Austrians,  while  by  a  new  law  all  males  in  Germany 
from  the  age  of  sixteen  to  sixty  are  conscripted  to 
serve  the  nation  in  accordance  with  the  war  needs  as 
determined  by  the  Government.  Also,  of  course,  wo- 
men and  girls,  as  in  all  the  warring  countries,  offer  their 
services  in  millions. 

Herr  Deutsch,  Chairman  of  the  A.E.G.  (the  General 
Electric  Company  of  Germany),  assured  me  that  the 
blockade  was  greatly  to  Germany's  advantage.  It  had 
greatly  stimulated  invention,  and  had  made  Germany 
and  her  allies  independent  of  imports. 

Germany  and  her  allies,  then,  believe  that  they  are 
largely  independent  of  sea-borne  commerce,  and  having 
the  advantage  of  interior  lines  of  communication,  they 
are  also  free  from  the  risks  of  communication  by  sea. 
On  the  other  hand,  her  enemies  are  vitally  dependent 

141 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

on  the  sea.  Sea  power  in  this  war  is  more  important 
than  it  has  ever  before  been  in  any  great  war.  The  rail- 
road has  been  developed  as  an  instrument  of  trans- 
portation to  a  degree  undreamed  of  in  previous  wars. 
The  Allies  cannot  interfere  with  Germany's  rail  com- 
munication. Germany  believes  she  can  destroy  or  at 
least  fatally  cripple  the  sea  communication  of  her 
enemies. 

THE   SUBMARINING   OF   PASSENGER   SHIPS 

No  single  event  in  modern  history  has  had  so  much 
influence  on  public  opinion  as  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania.  The  ship  was  famous  for  her  size  and  her 
speed,  and  was  a  masterpiece  of  the  science  of  ship- 
building. The  invasion  of  Belgium  and  rumors  of 
atrocities  had  caused  hostile  feelings  against  Germany. 
But  no  enemy  of  Germany  imagined  that  she  would 
sink  the  Lusitania  with  its  complement  of  over  two 
thousand  souls,  including  scores  of  children,  nearly  two 
hundred  Americans,  Greeks,  Dutch,  Swiss,  Mexicans, 
Russians,  French,  Italians,  and  British. 

I  remember  when  an  advertisement  appeared,  pur- 
porting to  be  from  the  Imperial  German  Government 
warning  passengers  against  sailing  on  such  ships,  I 
thought  it  must  be  some  enemy  of  Germany  who,  to 
injure  Germany,  caused  the  insertion  of  such  an 
advertisement. 

The  effect  on  public  opinion  was  such  that  no 
atrocities  charged  against  the  German  naval  and  mili- 
tary forces  seemed  incredible.  In  a  little  pamphlet 
published  in  England  there  is  a  description  of  the  acts 
of  Alfred  Vanderbilt  and  his  valet  which  is  worth 
reprinting  many  times :  — 

142 


THE  SUBMARINE 

There  were  many  heroes  that  day  on  board  the  Lusitania; 
among  them  stands  out  the  figure  of  Alfred  Vanderbilt,  the 
American  millionaire,  whom  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  and 
others  had  learned  to  love  as  a  sportsman  who  always 
thought  and  acted  straight.  When  the  ship  was  sinking,  his 
valet,  Ronald  Denyer,  was  by  his  side.  A  few  days  later  a 
Canadian  lady,  Mrs.  Lines,  told  the  story  of  how  these  two 
men  —  master  and  valet  —  acted  when  they  realized  that 
either  they  must  play  the  coward's  part  or  sink  in  the  great 
ship. 

"  People  will  not  talk  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt  in  future  as  the 
millionaire  sportsman  and  man  of  pleasure,"  this  Canadian 
lady  declared;  "he  will  be  remembered  as  'the  children's 
hero.'  Men  and  women  will  salute  his  name.  When  death 
was  nearing  him,  he  showed  a  gallantry  which  no  words  of 
mine  can  adequately  describe.  He  stood  outside  the  palm 
saloon,  on  the  starboard  side,  with  Ronald  Denyer  by  his 
side.  He  looked  round  on  the  scene  of  horror  and  despair 
with  pitying  eyes.  'Find  all  the  kiddies  you  can,  boy,'  he 
said  to  his  valet.  The  man  rushed  off  immediately  to  collect 
the  children,  and  as  he  brought  them  to  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  the 
millionaire  dashed  to  the  boats  with  two  little  ones  in  his 
arms  at  a  time.  When  he  could  no  longer  find  any  more 
children,  he  went  to  the  assistance  of  the  women  and  placed 
as  many  as  he  could  in  safety.  In  all  his  work  he  was  gal- 
lantly assisted  by  Ronald  Denyer,  and  the  two  continued 
their  efforts  to  the  very  end." 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  a  conspicuous  passenger,  and  hence 
his  record  has  been  preserved.  He  was  not  the  only  hero  who 
gave  up  hope  of  life  in  order  that  women  and  children  might 
be  saved.  As  the  huge  ship  went  under  and  the  water  became 
black  with  men  and  women  struggling  for  life  and  with  little 
children,  full  of  terror  but  hardly  realizing  the  terrible  fate 
before  them,  many  men,  British,  American,  or  otherwise, 
courted  death  in  the  very  effort  to  rescue  others.  The 
destruction  of  the  Lusitania  was  a  crime  without  parallel  in 
human  history,  but  it  has  left  behind  memories  which  may 
well  be  a  glorious  heritage  to  those  who,  in  beating  along 
life's  highway,  have  not  abandoned  those  heroic,  though 

143 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

simple,   traits  of  character  which  distinguish  men  from 
beasts. 

Within  twenty  minutes  after  the  two  torpedoes 
struck  the  great  vessel  most  of  the  men,  women,  and 
children  were  struggling  in  the  water.  Eleven  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  were  drowned. 

While  the  whole  world  was  stunned  with  amaze- 
ment and  horror,  the  German  people  and  press,  largely 
misled  as  to  the  cargo  and  arming  of  the  vessel,  re- 
garded the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  as  a  glorious 
victory. 

The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  is  a  success  for  our  submarines 
which  must  be  placed  beside  the  greatest  achievements  in 
the  naval  war.  .  .  .  The  sinking  of  the  great  British  steamer 
is  a  success  the  moral  significance  of  which  is  still  greater 
than  the  material  success.  With  joyful  pride  we  contem- 
plate this  latest  deed  of  our  navy,  and  it  will  not  be  the  last.1 

The  news  will  be  received  by  the  German  people  with 
unanimous  satisfaction,  since  it  proves  to  England  and  the 
whole  world  that  Germany  is  quite  in  earnest  in  regard  to 
her  submarine  warfare.2 

We  rejoice  over  this  new  success  of  the  German  navy.3 

On  March  28,  1915,  more  than  six  weeks  before  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  the  Falaba,  a  passenger  ship 
bound  from  Liverpool  to  an  African  port,  had  been 
sunk  without  warning. 

The  sinking  of  the  steamer  Arabic  on  August  19, 
1915,  is  thus  described  by  one  of  the  passengers:  — 

I  was  in  my  cabin,  and  was  in  pyjamas  when  I  heard  the 
cry  that  a  steamer  was  being  torpedoed.  Whether  it  was  the 
Arabic  or  another  ship  attacked  by  a  German  foe  I  did  not 

1  Kolniscke  Zeitung,  May  10,  1915. 

8  Ibid.,  May  15,  1915.  *  Neuc  Freie  Presse,  May  15, 1915. 

144 


THE  SUBMARINE 

know.  But  I  hastened  to  dress  myself  and  rushed  on  deck 
to  see  the  British  steamship  Dunsley  in  trouble.  After  the 
torpedo  had  penetrated  her  hull,  a  loud  explosion  followed. 
I  naturally  thought  that  the  next  steamer  the  German  sub- 
marine would  attack  would  be  the  White  Star  liner  I  was  on, 
and  my  premonition  proved  only  too  true. 

The  tramp  liner  succumbed  to  the  torpedo  and  had  dis- 
appeared with  a  plunge  in  the  ocean.  Within  a  very  short 
time  the  lifeboats  were  quickly  launched,  as  were  also  the 
life-saving  rafts,  and  were  floating  in  the  water.  The  Arabic 
was  then  struck,  without  any  warning  whatever  being  given. 
She  was  hit  on  the  port  side  with  a  torpedo,  and  a  similar 
explosion  to  that  on  the  Dunsley  followed.  It  was  a  deafen- 
ing sound  and  thrilling  in  the  extreme,  and  made  all  the 
passengers  considerably  alarmed.  But  there  was  no  time  to 
think  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation.  Life  was  at  stake, 
and  no  one  knew  what  to  do  to  save  it. 

Excitement  reigned.  There  was  a  bit  of  a  swell  on  that 
made  it  difficult  to  get  into  the  boats  as  they  were  bobbing 
up  and  down.  However,  I  got  into  one,  where  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  Arabic  take  her  final  dip  in  the 
ocean.  She  caused  a  great  suction,  and  the  water  turned  it 
into  whirlpools,  which  drew  the  various  lifeboats  and  rafts 
into  it  and  twisted  them  round  and  round,  and  made  one 
think  they  were  finally  going  to  be  submerged  and  sent  to 
the  bottom. 

I  saw  several  women,  men,  and  children  in  the  water  strug- 
gling for  their  lives.  Our  boat  proceeded  towards  two  men 
in  the  water  who  had  life-saving  apparatus  on.  We  rescued 
them  by  dragging  them  into  the  boat. 

Here  again  the  tragedy  is  illuminated  by  deeds  of 
noble  heroism.  The  third  engineer,  a  man  named 
London,  stood  by  his  engines,  to  carry  out  the  orders 
from  the  bridge  that  would  help  in  rescuing  the  pas- 
sengers. He  went  down  with  the  ship.  This  man  and 
others  remained  unflinchingly  at  their  posts,  and  gave 
up  their  lives  that  others  might  live. 

145 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

New  horrors  were  added  to  the  sinking  of  the  An- 
cona,  an  Italian  passenger  ship,  which  was  sunk  in  the 
Mediterranean  November  7,  1915. 

In  this  instance  the  submarine  carried  more  power- 
ful guns  than  other  submarines  which  had  been  active, 
and  when  yet  afar  off  brought  the  ship  under  a  heavy 
bombardment,  killing  and  injuring  passengers.  Then, 
without  pause,  although  the  Ancona  stopped,  a  torpedo 
was  fired  hitting  the  ship  in  a  vulnerable  spot.  Amid 
the  piteous  screaming  of  women  and  the  heartrending 
panic  of  the  children,  the  captain  and  his  officers 
endeavored  to  transfer  their  human  freight  to  the 
boats.  While  this  work  of  mercy  was  still  in  progress, 
the  submarine  continued  the  deadly  onslaught  from 
her  guns,  pouring  shot  after  shot  on  the  ship  and  on 
the  boats  with  callous  indifference.  The  only  explana- 
tion from  Vienna  of  this  tragedy,  which  closed  in  death 
the  eyes  of  over  two  hundred  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, was  that  the  "Ancona  had  tried  to  escape." 
This  was  the  excuse  made  in  an  Austrian  official 
communique".  The  real  facts,  ascertained  after  the 
fullest  inquiry,  were  set  forth  by  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment :  — 

The  Austrian  communique  is  false  in  its  fundamental  facts. 
All  the  survivors  of  the  Ancona  testify  that  the  submarine 
made  no  signal  whatsoever  to  bring  the  ship  to  a  stop,  nor 
did  it  even  fire  a  blank  warning  shot.  This  armed  aggression 
took  place  without  any  preliminary  warning. 

The  Ancona  was  bound  for  New  York,  and  could  not 
have  been  carrying  either  such  passengers  or  cargo  as  could 
justify  capture,  and,  therefore,  she  had  no  reason  for  at- 
tempting to  avoid  examination.  Moreover,  it  is  a  false  and 
malicious  assertion  to  state  that  the  loss  of  so  many  human 
lives  was  due  to  the  conduct  of  the  crew.   On  the  contrary, 

146 


THE  SUBMARINE 

the  bombardment  by  the  submarine  continued  after  the  An- 
cona  had  stopped,  and  was  also  directed  against  the  boats 
filled  with  people,  thereby  causing  numerous  victims. 

One  of  the  third-class  passengers  of  the  Ancona  who 
escaped  by  a  miracle  has  described  the  scenes  of  suffer- 
ing and  agony  which  the  crew  of  the  submarine  wit- 
nessed without  one  pang  of  regret :  — 

Exactly  at  one  o'clock  on  Monday  afternoon,  we  sighted 
a  submarine  at  a  great  distance.  She  came  up  to  the  surface 
and  made  full  speed  in  our  direction,  firing  as  she  did  so  a 
shot  which  went  wide  across  our  bows.  We  took  this  to  be 
a  warning  to  stop;  immediately  there  was  the  wildest  panic 
on  board,  not  only  among  the  women  and  children,  but 
among  the  men  too.  The  former  screamed  piteously,  and 
the  frightened  children  clung  desperately  to  their  mothers. 

Meantime,  the  submarine  continued  to  shell  us,  while 
gaining  rapidly  upon  us.  After  the  fifth  shot  the  chart- 
house  was  partly  carried  away,  and  another  shot  completely 
destroyed  it.  The  engines  then  ceased  going  and  the  Ancona 
was  at  a  standstill.  The  submarine,  which  we  could  now 
see  dimly,  was  Austrian.  She  came  alongside,  and  then  we 
heard  the  commander  talking  to  the  captain  of  the  Ancona. 
In  a  somewhat  curt  manner  we  were  told  that  the  Austrian 
commander  had  given  a  few  minutes'  time  for  the  passengers 
and  crew  to  abandon  the  ship.  Then  the  submarine  with- 
drew to  a  little  distance. 

No  time  was  lost  in  making  the  necessary  arrangements, 
but  soon  there  ensued  a  regular  pandemonium.  All  the 
passengers,  women  and  men,  big  and  little,  appeared  to  have 
completely  lost  their  heads.  The  submarine  continued  to 
fire  around  the  vessel.  There  was  a  rush  for  the  boats,  which 
were  being  lowered.  The  passengers  got  into  the  boats,  but 
in  the  confusion  many  of  them  were  not  altogether  free  from 
the  davits  and  were  overturned  by  their  heavy  load,  the 
occupants  being  thrown  into  the  water. 

Many  struggled  before  our  eyes  until  they  were  drowned. 
The  shrieks  of  the  women  and  children  rent  the  air,  but  no 

147 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

help,  it  appeared,  could  be  given.  .  .  .  During  this  indescrib- 
able and  heartrending  scene  the  submarine  continued  to 
discharge  shot  after  shot.  Such  ruthless  conduct  was  all  the 
more  incomprehensible  as  not  one  shot  was  directed  at  the 
ship  itself,  the  assailants  firing  all  round  the  vessel  as  if  to 
create  as  much  terror  as  possible. 

The  next  great  tragedy  was  the  sinking  of  the  Persia, 
bound  from  London  to  Bombay.  The  ship  sunk  in  five 
minutes.  There  were  five  hundred  and  fifty  people  on 
board,  including  twenty  Americans.  Three  hundred 
and  eighty-five  perished. 

Submarine  Warfare  on  Merchantmen  and  the 
Execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  of  the  Brussels 

The  death  of  no  single  individual  so  hardened  the 
British  determination  as  the  execution  of  Captain 
Fryatt.  On  the  18th  of  February,  1915,  the  German 
Government  announced  its  submarine  policy  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Germany's  war  zone  and  neutral  flags 

Berlin,  February  4  (by  wireless  to  Say ville,  L.I.)  —  The 
German  Admiralty  to-day  issued  the  following  communica- 
tion :  — 

The  waters  around  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  including 
the  whole  English  Channel,  are  declared  a  war  zone  on  and 
after  February  18,  1915. 

Every  enemy  merchant  ship  found  in  this  war  zone  will  be 
destroyed,  even  if  it  is  impossible  to  avert  dangers  which 
threaten  the  crew  and  passengers. 

Also  neutral  ships  in  the  war  zone  are  in  danger,  as  in  con- 
sequence of  the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  ordered  by  the  British 
Government  on  January  31,  and  in  view  of  the  hazards  of 
naval  warfare,  it  cannot  always  be  avoided  that  attacks 
meant  for  enemy  ships  endanger  neutral  ships. 

Shipping  northward,  around  the  Shetland  Islands,  in  the 

148 


THE  SUBMARINE 

eastern  basin  of  the  North  Sea,  and  a  strip  of  at  least  thirty- 
nautical  miles  in  breadth  along  the  Dutch  coast,  is  endan- 
gered in  the  same  way. 

On  the  20th  of  March,  1915,  Captain  Fryatt,  who 
had  successfully  dodged  submarines  for  many  voyages 
between  Harwich  and  Holland,  noticed  a  submarine  in 
his  path.  He  immediately  tried  to  ram  the  submarine. 
That  was  his  crime. 

The  statement  of  the  German  Government  in 
defense  of  its  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  is  as 
follows :  — 

The  accused  was  condemned  to  death  because,  although 
he  was  not  a  member  of  a  combatant  force,  he  made  an 
attempt  on  the  afternoon  of  March  20,  1915,  to  ram  the 
German  submarine  U-33  near  the  Maas  Lightship.  The 
accused,  as  well  as  the  first  officer  and  the  chief  engineer  of 
the  steamer,  received  at  the  time  from  the  British  Admiralty 
a  gold  watch  as  a  reward  of  his  brave  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion, and  his  action  was  mentioned  with  praise  in  the  House 
of  Commons. 

August  10,  1916,  a  further  statement  was  issued  by 
the  German  Government :  — 

The  German  War  Tribunal  sentenced  him  to  death  be- 
cause he  had  performed  an  act  of  war  against  the  German 
sea  forces,  although  he  did  not  belong  to  the  armed  forces 
of  his  country.  He  was  not  deliberately  shot  in  cold 
blood  without  due  consideration,  as  the  British  Govern- 
ment asserts,  but  he  was  shot  as  a  franc-tireur,  after  calm 
consideration  and  thorough  investigation.  As  martial  law  on 
land  protects  the  soldiery  against  assassination,  by  threat- 
ening the  offender  with  the  penalty  of  death,  so  it  protects 
the  members  of  the  sea  forces  against  assassination  at  sea. 
Germany  will  continue  to  use  this  law  of  warfare  in  order  to 
save  her  submarine  crews  from  becoming  the  victims  of 
francs-tireurs  at  sea. 

149 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

At  the  end  of  a  careful  analysis  of  law  and  preced- 
ents, James  Brown  Scott,  in  the  "American  Journal 
of  International  Law,"  quotes  from  the  German  Prize 
Code  as  in  force  July  1,  1915,  which  says:  — 

If  an  armed  enemy  merchant  vessel  offers  armed  resist- 
ance against  measures  taken  under  the  law  of  prize,  such 
resistance  is  to  be  overcome  with  all  means  available.  The 
enemy  Government  bears  all  responsibility  for  any  damages 
to  the  vessel,  cargo,  and  passengers.  The  crew  are  to  be  taken 
as  prisoners  of  war.  The  passengers  are  to  be  left  to  go  free, 
unless  it  appears  that  they  participated  in  the  resistance. 
In  the  latter  case  they  may  be  proceeded  against  under 
extraordinary  martial  law. 

Mr.  Scott  concludes,  after  quoting  numerous  au- 
thorities from  many  countries,  as  follows :  — 

If  the  views  above  expressed  are  correct,  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  law  nor  in  the  practice  of  nations  which  pre- 
vents a  belligerent  merchant  vessel  from  defending  itself 
from  attack  and  capture,  the  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt 
appears  to  have  been  without  warrant  in  international  law 
and  illegal,  whatever  it  may  have  been  according  to  the 
municipal  ordinances  of  Germany. 

The  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  was  strictly  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  German  maritime 
laws.  It  was  absolutely  against  the  maritime  laws  of 
all  other  nations.  The  question  arises,  Why  does 
Germany  pursue  a  policy  that  insures  a  world  hostility 
that  may  last  for  years,  and  amounts  almost  to  a  moral 
boycott? 

First,  because  she  regards  the  English  blockade  as 
illegal  and  directed  toward  the  starvation  of  civilians. 

Secondly,  because,  feeling  justified  in  her  use  of  the 
submarine,  she  believes  that  she  can  thereby  carry  out 
her  political  aims. 

150 


THE  SUBMARINE 

With  submarines  that  can  shell  merchantmen  at  a 
distance  of  six  or  seven  miles,  the  submarine  becomes 
in  actuality  a  cruiser,  and  a  cruiser  with  the  added 
advantage  of  invisibility  in  getting  to  its  field  of  opera- 
tion. 

German  Submarine  Laws 

The  German  submarine  policy  has  caused  nearly 
all  the  trouble  that  has  arisen  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany.  Also  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  and  similar  events  have  aroused  the  horror  of 
millions  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  neutrals,  and  have 
solidified  the  feelings  of  the  belligerent  countries.  One 
must  have  known  England  to  realize  what  a  miracle 
the  establishment  of  universal  conscription  was.  Cer- 
tainly Germany's  submarine  policy  is  accountable  in  a 
great  degree  for  the  arousing  of  the  English  people. 

In  the  chapter  on  "Asiatic  Turkey,"  I  have  ex- 
plained how  Germany,  by  securing  this  region,  would 
dominate  the  Suez  Canal,  North  Africa,  the  Persian 
Gulf,  India,  Persia,  etc.  It  is  the  absolute  conviction  of 
the  naval  and  military  authorities  of  Germany  that  by 
the  full  use  of  the  submarine,  she  could  get  all  that  is  im- 
plied in  her  Asia  Minor  plans.  This  can  be  achieved 
both  by  starving  out  England  as  to  food,  France  as  to 
coal  and  iron,  and  by  hampering  the  supplies  of  men 
and  munitions  to  Salonika,  Egypt,  and  Mesopotamia. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  was  planned  hastily  and  repented  of  after- 
wards. Germany  will  never  admit  that  she  did  wrong 
in  sinking  the  Lusitania.  In  spite  of  the  universal 
world-horror,  the  identical  policy  was  continued.  Why? 
Because  to  Germany  the  submarine  is  the  instrument 

151 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

whereby  she  can  secure  her  aims.  For  the  purpose  of 
submarine  warfare,  the  German  Government  has  made 
new  laws  governing  the  status  of  merchantmen  as  to 
their  right  to  resist  capture.  Under  these  new  laws 
Captain  Fryatt  was  executed. 

The  new  German  laws  are  upheld  by  Dr.  Georg 
Schramm,  Adviser  to  the  German  Admiralty,  and 
Professor  Heinrich  Triepel,  but  by  no  other  German 
authorities. 

Professor  Oppenheim,  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, maintained  that  almost  universally  it  was  an 
accepted  principle  that  merchant  ships  had  a  right  to 
arm  and  to  resist  capture.  Professor  Triepel,  replying, 
quotes  Professor  Oppenheim's  statement  that  the  pub- 
licists are  in  favor  of  the  right  of  a  merchant  ship  to 
defend  itself  and  adds :  — 

He  is  right  [that  is,  Professor  Triepel  says  Professor 
Oppenheim  is  right].  The  literature  is  upon  his  side.  Not 
only  in  the  English  and  the  Anglo-American  works  on  inter- 
national law  and  especially  on  maritime  law,  but  also  in  the 
French,  Belgian,  Italian,  and  Swedish  science,  the  right  of 
self-defense  as  far  as  I  can  see  is  generally  acknowledged. 
Only  in  very  isolated  cases  a  doubt  is  ventured.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  later  German  writers  maintain  silence  on  the 
question.  In  the  older  writers,  the  English  doctrine  is  fol- 
lowed.1 

The  new  German  doctrine  which  justifies  her  prin- 
ciples of  submarine  warfare,  justifies  the  hanging  of 
Captain  Fryatt,  and  denies  the  right  of  merchantmen 
to  resist  capture,  is  printed  in  the  "American  Journal 
of  International  Law  Quarterly. " 2    I  quote:  — 

1  Professor  Triepel,  in  Zeitschrift  filr  Volkerrechts  (1914),  vol.  vin,  p.  391. 

2  October,  1916,  pp.  871,  872. 

152 


THE  SUBMARINE 

Dr.  Georg  Schramm,  Adviser  to  the  German  Admiralty, 
and  Professor  Heinrich  Triepel  are  the  chief,  if  not  the  only, 
German  publicists  who  have  denied  the  right  of  the  belliger- 
ent merchant  ship  to  arm  itself  against  attack  and  to  defend 
itself  if  attacked.  In  his  work  entitled  "Das  Prisenrecht  in 
seiner  Neuesten  Gestalt," l  which  may  be  translated  as 
"Prize  Law  in  its  Newest  or  Latest  Form,"  Dr.  Schramm 
says:  — 

A  merchantman  has  no  right  of  self-defense  against 
the  lawful  exercise  of  the  right  of  stoppage,  search,  and 
seizure.  Self-defense  is  to  be  understood  as  a  defense 
against  an  unlawful  interference  with  lawful  property. 
But  in  exercising  the  aforementioned  rights  the  belliger- 
ent keeps  within  the  sphere  of  his  recognized  rights, 
and  therefore  does  not  act  contrary  to  law.  The  mer- 
chantman must  therefore  tolerate  this  interference  of 
the  belligerent;  a  defense,  that  is,  an  action  for  the  pur- 
pose of  warding  him  off,  on  the  part  of  the  merchant- 
man, would,  on  the  contrary,  constitute  an  encroach- 
ment upon  the  sphere  of  rights  of  the  belligerent.  This 
applies  in  general  to  both  neutral  and  hostile  merchant- 
men. The  latter  have  no  exceptional  status.  They  like- 
wise have  no  right  of  self-defense.  The  contrary  view, 
which  has  been  held  even  in  modern  literature,  espe- 
cially English  and  American,  and  which  would  attribute 
to  the  crew  of  a  hostile  merchantman  the  status  of 
combatants  with  respect  to  the  enemy  warship,  is  based 
not  only  on  an  absolute  mis  judgment  of  the  modern 
idea  of  the  legal  regulation  of  warfare  as  an  armed  con- 
flict between  nations,  but  also  on  a  denial  of  the  legal 
maxim  which,  in  land  and  naval  war,  grants  only  to  the 
organized  forces  of  the  nations  the  authority  to  employ 
armed  force  in  both  attack  and  defense.  This  view  is, 
moreover,  illogical;  for  if  hostile  merchantmen,  which 
owing  to  their  very  status  as  hostile  ships  are  with  few 
exceptions  subject  to  capture  and  confiscation,  were  to 
be  granted  a  right  of  resistance,  then  such  authority 

1  Pages  308-10 
153 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

would  with  all  the  more  right  have  to  be  conceded  to 
neutral  ships,  which  are  allowed  on  general  principles 
to  travel  about  freely  even  in  naval  war  and  are  subject 
to  seizure  only  under  certain  conditions  (as  in  case  of 
breach  of  blockade,  the  conveyance  of  contraband,  etc.) 
as  well  as,  under  certain  circumstances  (not  always)  to 
confiscation.  And  nevertheless  even  those  authors  who 
would  concede  an  exceptional  status  to  hostile  merchant- 
men recognize  the  fact  of  forcible  resistance  on  the  part 
of  neutral  merchantmen  as  a  ground  justifying  the  con- 
fiscation of  the  ship.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  this 
doctrine  that  hostile  merchantmen  possess  a  right  of 
defense  as  against  the  lawful  acts  of  a  warship  of  the 
enemy,  while  held  only  sporadically  in  the  literature  on 
the  subject  and  lacking  a  legal  basis  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  modern  law  of  war,  has  yet  here  and  there  been 
recognized  in  the  prize  law  provisions  of  individual 
nations.  For  instance,  Article  209  of  the  Italian  Codice 
per  la  marina  mercantile  of  October  24,  1877,  contains 
the  following  provision:  "Merchantmen  when  attacked 
by  ships,  even  by  warships,  may  defend  themselves  and 
capture  them;  they  may  also  go  to  the  defense  of  any 
other  national  or  allied  ships  which  are  being  attacked 
and  join  with  them  to  capture  prizes."  Article  210  of 
the  said  Codice  further  states  that  in  case  a  hostile  ship 
"seen  from  the  shore  of  the  state"  were  to  attempt  to 
capture  a  prize,  any  national  would  be  entitled  to  arm  a 
ship  (di  formare  armamenti),  and  go  to  the  assistance 
of  the  merchantman  attacked.  Article  15  of  the  Russian 
Prize  Regulations  of  March  27,  1895,  is  also  pertinent 
to  the  subject;  it  declares:  "This  right  (that  is,  the 
right  to  stop,  search  and  seize  merchantmen  and  their 
cargoes)  is  conceded  to  merchantmen  in  the  following 
cases  only:  (1)  in  case  of  attack  by  allied  or  suspected 
vessels,  and  (2)  when  it  is  necessary  to  go  to  the  assist- 
ance of  Russian  or  neutral  vessels  attacked  by  the 
enemy."  A  similar  process  of  reasoning  prompted  the 
provision  of  Article  10,  paragraph  2  of  the  Naval  War 
Code  which  recognizes  the  claim  to  the  treatment  as 

154 


THE  SUBMARINE 

prisoners  of  war  on  the  part  of  the  crew  of  hostile 
merchantmen  who  are  captured  while  engaged  in  self- 
defense  or  who  have  resisted  attack  in  order  to  protect 
the  ship  entrusted  to  them.  In  so  far  as  these  provisions 
are  not  directed  to  the  warding  off  of  piratical  attacks  of 
merchantmen,  they  are  without  any  legal  foundation. 

It  is  unlikely  that  the  world  at  large  will  adopt  the 
German  submarine  laws. 

Did  Germany  intend  to  use  the  submarine  as  a  com- 
merce destroyer  before  the  war  broke  out? 

There  was  a  discussion  of  the  submarine  in  the 
London  "Times"  early  in  July,  1914.  The  "Times" 
for  July  16,  more  than  two  weeks  before  the  war  broke 
out,  contains  a  letter  from  Sir  Percy  Scott,  from  which 
I  quote :  — 

Sir:  —  In  the  letter  which  you  published  from  me  on 
July  10, 1  replied  to  most  of  the  criticisms  of  my  views  which 
had  recently  appeared.  Yesterday  Lord  Sydenham  raised  a 
further  question  in  your  columns  which  seems  to  call  for  an 
answer.  With  the  greater  part  of  his  letter  it  is  unnecessary 
for  me  to  deal.  Lord  Sydenham  is  not  a  seaman,  but  a  sol- 
dier, and  he  cannot  be  expected  to  appreciate  the  technical 
points  in  my  argument.  With  reference,  however,  to  the 
question  of  the  attack  of  our  commerce  by  submarine,  he 
says :  — 

Capture  of  vessels  at  sea  is  an  old  right  of  war.  The 
right  to  kill  unresisting  non-combatants,  engaged  in 
peaceful  avocations,  has  never  been  recognized.  The 
submarine  cannot  capture,  it  must  destroy.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  sentiment  of  the  world  in  the  twentieth 
century  would  tolerate  for  a  moment  proceedings  which 
have  hitherto  been  associated  with  piracy  only  in  its 
blackest  form.  Considerations  of  humanity  apart, 
there  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  that  this  relapse 
into  savagery  would  not  serve  the  purpose  of  the  Navy 

155 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

which  so  far  degraded  itself,  and  I  doubt  whether  Sir 
Percy  Scott  has  thought  out  this  part  of  his  programme. 

This  I  consider  a  dangerous  and  most  misleading  doctrine, 
because  it  is  calculated  to  make  the  British  public  believe 
that  their  food-supply  will  be  safe  in  time  of  war.  In  order 
to  make  its  fallacy  manifest,  I  will  quote  the  following  ex- 
tract from  a  letter  written  by  a  foreign  naval  officer:  — 

If  we  went  to  war  with  an  insular  country,  depending 
for  its  food  on  supplies  from  oversea,  it  would  be  our 
business  to  stop  that  supply.  On  the  declaration  of  war 
we  should  notify  the  enemy  that  she  should  warn  those 
of  her  merchant  ships  coming  home  not  to  approach  the 
island,  as  we  were  establishing  a  blockade  of  mines  and 
submarines.  Similarly  we  should  notify  all  neutrals 
that  such  a  blockade  had  been  established  and  that  if 
any  of  their  vessels  approached  the  island  they  would  be 
liable  to  destruction  either  by  mines  or  submarines, 
and  therefore  would  do  so  at  their  own  risk.  .  .  .  Trade 
is  timid.  It  will  not  need  more  than  one  or  two  ships 
sent  to  the  bottom  to  hold  up  the  food-supply  of  the 
country. 

I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

Percy  Scott,  &c. 

In  the  "  Political  Science  Quarterly  "  for  December, 
1916,  Professor  Munroe  Smith,  of  Columbia  University, 
states  the  legal  method  of  using  submarines :  — 

Our  State  Department  has  consistently  refused  to  admit 
that  the  introduction  of  a  new  weapon  automatically 
changes  the  rules  of  international  law.  Until  the  law  is 
changed  by  general  acquiescence  or  by  express  convention, 
the  new  weapon  must  be  used  in  compliance  with  existing 
rules.  If  it  is  unable  to  do  any  particular  kind  of  military  work 
without  overriding  these  rules,  it  should  not  attempt  such  work. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   ZEPPELIN   RAIDS   IN   ENGLAND 

When  I  was  in  Berlin  last  February  I  read  the  accounts 
of  the  Zeppelin  raids  in  Liverpool,  Birkenhead,  and 
Manchester.  The  German  Naval  Staff  issued  this 
report  February  1 :  — 

One  of  our  airship  squadrons  last  night  threw  bombs  over 
a  wide  area  on  the  docks,  harbors,  and  factories  in  and  near 
Liverpool  and  Birkenhead.  .  .  .  Everywhere  could  be  ob- 
served important  results,  heavy  explosions,  and  great  fires. 
.  .  .  Our  airship  was  violently  bombarded  at  all  points. 

The  German  Embassy  in  Washington  on  the  24th 
of  February,  received  the  following  report :  — 

Competent  German  authorities  give  the  following  details 
concerning  the  airship  attack  on  England  on  the  night  be- 
tween January  31  and  February  1.  Liverpool  docks  and 
quayside  factories  were  the  principal  objective.  The  bombs 
had  good  results,  as  a  great  fire  was  visible  when  the  ship 
turned  homewards.  A  large  number  of  bridges  between  the 
docks  were  so  severely  damaged  that  for  the  present  they 
cannot  be  used.  In  addition  several  ships  in  the  Mersey 
were  severely  damaged,  amongst  them  a  cruiser,  anchored 
below  Birkenhead,  and  a  transport  steamer  belonging  to  the 
Leyland  line.  A  stable  with  two  hundred  horses  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  and  the  horses,  with  their  Canadian  stable- 
men, are  said  to  have  perished.  The  Booth  line  and  the 
Yeoward  line  suffered  severely,  as  their  docks  were  partly 
destroyed.  In  addition,  neighboring  dry-docks  and  engine- 
works  were  destroyed,  Birkenhead  dry-dock  and  the  engine- 
and  boiler-works  completely.  In  all  over  two  hundred  houses 
were  destroyed  by  bombs  and  fires.  At  Bootle,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mersey,  a  powder  factory  was  completely  destroyed. 

157 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

In  Berlin  I  saw  an  article  in  the  London  "Times" 
by  Lord  Northcliffe  describing  a  visit  to  Verdun.  In 
one  place  he  remarked  that  the  German  official  reports 
of  the  situation  at  Verdun  were  as  devoid  of  truth  as 
their  reports  of  the  Zeppelin  raids  over  Liverpool  and 
adjacent  territory. 

As  soon  as  I  reached  Liverpool  I  was  eager  to  see  for 
myself  what  had  happened.  I  saw  nothing,  for  noth- 
ing had  happened.  No  Zeppelin  had  ever  come  near 
Liverpool,  Birkenhead,  or  Manchester.  A  Swedish 
journalist,  who  had  made  a  most  thorough  investiga- 
tion soon  after  the  reported  raid,  wrote  to  his  paper, 
the   Stockholm  "Dagblad":  — 

No  hostile  airship  has  been  over  Liverpool  or  Birkenhead, 
or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  over  Crewe  either,  a  place  which  I 
visited  without  finding  any  trace  of  Zeppelin  damage.  It 
follows  that  they  have  not  been  able  to  cause  any  damage 
there.  The  authorities  in  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead  — 
towns  which,  as  is  well  known,  lie  on  the  opposite  sides 
of  the  wide  Mersey  River  —  gave  me  all  the  assistance  I 
wished.  I  was  allowed  to  go  wherever  I  wished.  Among 
other  things,  one  of  the  directors  of  Cammel  Laird  showed 
me  over  the  whole  of  this  immense  shipbuilding  establish- 
ment in  order  that  I  might  see  with  my  own  eyes  and  thus 
verify  the  facts.  I  saw  every  dock  and  every  dry-dock  in 
Liverpool  and  Birkenhead  and  every  dock-bridge.  I  in- 
spected particularly  the  docks  and  stores  of  the  Booth  and 
Yeoward  Lines.  In  Bootle,  which  forms  a  western  extension 
of  Liverpool,  I  searched  for  the  "  completely  destroyed" 
powder  factory,  the  destruction  of  which  would  necessarily 
have  had  terrible  effects  in  such  a  populous  part  of  the  town 
where  only  insane  authorities  would  have  allowed  the 
establishment  of  such  a  factory. 

I  convinced  myself  that  no  powder  factory  has  been  de- 
stroyed in  Bootle  in  recent  months  (for  I  will  here  only  refer 
to  what  I  can  answer  for  from  my  own  experience) ;  that  no 

158 


THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

dock-bridge  in  Liverpool  or  Birkenhead  has  been  recently 
destroyed;  that  no  docks  were  damaged;  that  the  Booth  and 
Yeoward  lines  had  ships  which  were  discharging  and  loading 
cargo  in  the  docks  of  these  lines  where  no  trace  of  damage 
could  be  discovered;  that  there  are  no  quay-side  factories  in 
Liverpool  and  Birkenhead,  and  no  engine-works,  as  the 
German  reports  state.  In  Birkenhead  there  is  not  one  dry- 
dock,  but  several.  I  visited  every  dry-dock  in  Liverpool  and 
Birkenhead,  and  can  bear  witness  that  none  of  them  showed 
any  trace  of  damage,  much  less  any  trace  of  "complete 
destruction."  I  went  through  the  only  engine  and  boiler- 
works,  or  rather,  the  only  establishment  which  could  with 
any  accuracy  be  so  called  in  Birkenhead,  and  I  can  bear 
witness  that  there,  instead  of  "  complete  destruction,"  in- 
tense constructive  activities  are  in  full  swing.  I  completed 
my  detailed  investigation  by  making  inquiries  from  foreign- 
ers living  in  Liverpool,  amongst  whom  was  the  Swedish 
Consul,  who  confirmed  the  fact  that  hostile  airships  have 
never  been  over  the  town.  It  is  to  be  noted,  amongst  other 
things,  that  the  steamer  Stockholm  was  lying  that  night  in 
Liverpool,  and  that  ships  in  the  Mersey  could  not  have  been 
attacked  and  damaged  without  this  being  observed  on  the 
Stockholm,  on  which  there  was  no  one  who  had  the  least 
notion  of  a  Zeppelin  attack  on  Liverpool  until  it  had  been 
announced  from  Berlin.  I  received  similar  information  with 
regard  to  Manchester. 

I  reached  London  late  Friday,  July  28,  1916.  It 
was  a  calm,  clear,  starlight  night.  "A  fine  night  for 
Zeppelins,"  a  phrase  used  by  a  young  German  diplo- 
mat in  Brussels  on  a  similar  night  last  February,  im- 
mediately after  the  Liverpool  raid,  came  to  my  mind. 

But  I  had  not  heard  recently  of  Zeppelin  raids  and 
I  assumed  that  perhaps  the  nights  were  too  short. 
But  sure  enough,  next  morning  the  papers  told  of  a 
raid,  and  during  my  first  two  weeks  in  London  there 
were  other  raids. 

159 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

This  report  is  copied  from  the  "Hamburger  Frem- 
denblatt,"  and  deals  with  the  raid  immediately  fol- 
lowing my  arrival  in  London :  — 

The  alarm  and  consternation  in  London  was  indescrib- 
able. The  entire  fire  brigade  was  stationed  with  its  engines 
and  rescuing  apparatus  in  the  various  streets  and  squares. 
The  Nelson  Memorial  in  Trafalgar  Square  was  hastily  sur- 
rounded with  mountainous  stacks  of  sandbags,  and  the 
valuable  exhibits  in  the  British  and  Kensington  Museums 
were  conveyed  into  the  vaults  beneath  those  buildings. 

Red  Cross  banners  were  hoisted  on  the  roofs  of  Bucking- 
ham Palace  and  St.  James's  Palace,  while  gigantic  flags  of 
the  respective  nationalities  waved  from  the  foreign  embas- 
sies and  consulates. 

The  population  was  for  the  most  part  hiding  in  cellars  and 
underground  railway  tunnels.  Numerous  bodies  of  troops 
hurried  through  the  streets  to  their  respective  stations. 
Every  railway  station  in  London,  as  well  as  the  City  gener- 
ally, was  steeped  in  an  inky  darkness,  which  was  only  lit  up 
now  and  again  by  the  searchlight  projections  and  the  fire 
of  the  anti-aircraft  guns.  The  damage  inflicted,  as  ascer- 
tained up  to  August  3,  was  very  serious. 

On  the  Thames  several  bridges,  including  the  Tower 
Bridge,  sustained  grave  injury.  They  have  now  been  tempo- 
rarily closed  to  traffic.  Numerous  destructive  fires  were 
caused  in  the  West  India  Docks,  as  well  as  in  Huntington 
Street  and  in  Woolwich,  many  persons  being  killed  in  the 
latter  district. 

On  the  morning  of  August  3  the  streets  leading  to  the 
various  hospitals  were  rendered  for  a  time  impassable  to 
ordinary  traffic,  in  order  to  permit  the  hundreds  of  ambu- 
lances to  make  their  way  with  their  loads  of  injured  people. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  indignation  against  the  Gov- 
ernment has  assumed  dangerous  dimensions. 

I  examined,  personally,  all  the  places  described  and 
nothing  had  happened. 

Another  version  of  these  raids  was  given  in  the 

160 


THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

"  Magdeburgische  Zeitung"  in  these  words  —  these 
were  the  raids  of  August  1  and  3,  and  the  journal  gives 
a  " neutral"  as  authority:  — 

Not  even  the  night  of  horror  of  April  26  was  so  terrible 
as  the  last  two  attacks.  A  London  doctor  states  that  the 
Germans  have  established  a  record,  both  in  destruction  and 
in  creating  such  a  state  of  nerves  that,  if  you  tell  a  man  that 
the  Zeppelins  have  so  far  destroyed  one  thousand  lives,  he 
will  reply  that  he  is  afraid  the  next  raid  will  destroy  two  or 
three  times  as  many. 

Sanatoria  and  lunatic  asylums  are  overfilled,  and  after 
each  attack  the  number  of  lunatics  increases. 

Rumor  puts  the  loss  of  life  in  the  attack  on  August  1  at 
six  thousand,  and  in  the  attack  on  August  3  at  fifteen 
thousand. 

The  greatest  part  of  the  damage  was  done  in  the  district 
between  Charing  Cross  and  Waterloo  Bridge.  Somerset 
House  and  the  Strand  and  the  Tower  Bridge  district  and 
the  Custom  House  also  suffered.  Charing  Cross  Station  is 
still  for  the  most  part  closed. 

People  used  to  mock  at  the  idea  of  reprisals  for  the  Bara- 
long,  but  now  the  Baralong  hangs  over  the  householder's 
head  like  a  sword  of  Damocles. 

Here  is  the  official  report.  Dealing  with  these  raids 
of  July  28,  29,  31,  and  August  1,  2,  and  3,  the  German 
Government  sent  out  the  following  account :  — 

Berlin,  Saturday. 

Contrary  to  the  assertions  of  the  British  Government,  the 
general  conviction  reigns  in  London  that  the  attack  on 
August  1  was  the  most  serious  which  London  has  ever  been 
through  up  to  the  present. 

Undeniable  reports  regarding  the  airship  attacks  of  July 
28,  29,  31,  and  August  1,  2  and  3,  confirm  that  very  heavy 
damage  was  caused. 

A  hall  which  was  under  construction  for  a  remount  depot 
was  completely  destroyed.   Most  of  the  horses  perished. 

161 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Humber  a  lighthouse  was  destroyed. 

A  small  cruiser  with  three  funnels  and  one  mast  was 
badly  damaged. 

Below  Grimsby  two  munition  sheds  were  completely 
destroyed. 

Ships  anchored  between  Grimsby  and  Cleethorpes  Har- 
bor establishments  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cleethorpes 
were  seriously  damaged. 

The  damage  caused  in  Hull  amounts  to  millions.  Several 
arms  and  munition  works  were  destroyed,  as  well  as  other 
establishments  of  military  importance. 

Woolwich  and  the  surrounding  districts  were  seriously 
damaged  and  several  munition  factories  were  hit. 

In  the  eastern  suburb  of  London  a  cotton  mill  used  for  the 
manufacture  of  shell  cases  was  completely  destroyed.  Over 
a  thousand  men  and  women  have  been  put  out  of  employment. 

Several  large  bridges  across  the  Thames,  including  the 
foot-bridges  of  the  Tower  Bridge,  were  damaged. 

In  the  docks,  several  warehouses  and  landing  piers  were 
destroyed.  Ships  anchored  there  were  partly  seriously 
damaged. 

In  one  dock  numerous  ships,  including  a  large  English 
steamer,  which  were  supposed  to  take  provisions  to  France 
to  the  troops,  were  destroyed  by  fire. 

Many  persons  were  wounded,  some  seriously,  by  the  anti- 
aircraft fire. 

In  the  Thames  a  torpedo-boat  was  hit  by  our  bombs  and 
sank. 

In  Oxted,  near  London,  two  munition  factories  were  de- 
stroyed; the  surroundings  of  the  factories  were  still  on  fire 
the  next  day.1 

The  above  report  is  pure  imagination. 

On  the  night  of  Saturday,  September  3,  there  was 
a  raid  in  which  a  Zeppelin  fell  in  flames  at  Cuffley. 
I  quote  a  description  of  that  raid  from  the  Leipzig 
"Neueste  Nachrichten  " :  — 

1  Wireless  press. 
162 


THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

A  most  welcome  message  of  joy !  An  air  raid  on  England 
with  the  cooperation  of  an  unprecedented  number  of  air 
cruisers!  Several  naval  and  army  air  squadrons  have  sown 
the  land  of  our  worst  foe  with  bombs,  causing  devastation 
on  an  unheard-of  scale,  and  spreading  a  horror  bordering  on 
insanity  everywhere  from  the  north-easternmost  extremity 
of  the  English  coast  to  the  south-western  districts  of  London. 

London,  above  all,  has  been  most  generously  dealt  with  in 
the  way  of  bombs.  Our  unapproachable  king  of  the  air  dis- 
tinctly saw  the  immense  flames  rising  up  into  the  night  sky 
as  with  many  a  mighty  crash  blocks  of  houses  were  torn 
asunder.  Filled  with  proud  satisfaction,  our  heroes  could 
wend  their  way  homeward  because  they  knew  that  their 
bombs  had  done  excellently  well.  Old  England's  constantly 
improved  defenses  once  again  proved  a  glorious  failure. 

"  In  London  the  terror  at  the  Zeppelin  attacks  is  indescrib- 
able." Thus  only  yesterday  wrote  a  friend  who  had  spoken 
with  neutral  witnesses  of  the  German  air  raids.  Once  again 
the  merciless  lords  of  the  Island  Empire  have  been  filled 
with  this  uncanny,  overwhelming  horror,  and  wherever  their 
stricken,  hunted  eyes  turn  they  behold  fresh  pictures  of 
ghastly  destruction. 

We  must  see  to  it,  however,  that  their  fears  are  constantly 
aggravated.  They  must  find  not  a  moment's  security  any- 
where. They  must  be  made  to  comprehend  that  their  insular 
aloofness  belongs  to  the  past,  and  that  we  are  in  a  position 
to  clutch  by  the  throat  the  unscrupulous  incendiaries  of  the 
world  conflagration.  Even  though  the  whole  of  London  had 
to  be  beaten  into  one  gigantic  heap  of  ruins  we  must  hammer 
it  into  their  addled  brains  with  utter  ruthlessness  that  the 
German  people  have  the  iron  will  to  overthrow  their  worst 
foe. 

This  whole  statement  is  pure  imagination. 

Perhaps  the  gem  of  all  German  reports  on  the 
Zeppelin  raids  is  an  illustrated  book  published  by  the 
great  firm  of  Ullstein  &  Co.,  owners  of  the  "Vossische 
Zeitung"  and  the  "Berliner  Zeitung  am  Mittag"  and 

163 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

various  periodicals.  This  book  is  fully  illustrated  with 
pictures  of  blazing  and  devastated  English  towns, 
factories,  harbors,  and  ships.  Besides  giving  all  the 
imaginary  stories  that  have  appeared  from  time  to 
time  in  the  newspapers,  the  author  dramatizes  his 
stories,  and  supposes  himself  in  a  Zeppelin,  which  has 
already  reached  the  English  coast,  and  has  been 
appointed  to  operate  between  Yarmouth  and  Nor- 
wich. The  Great  Central  Railway  unites  these  two 
towns.  The  trains  on  this  line  travel  relatively  slowly, 
but  on  this  night  their  pace  was  accelerated.  It  was 
"flight,  flight!"  But  above  in  the  air  there  was  some- 
thing moving  still  more  rapidly.  Bursting  bombs  hailed 
on  the  railway  stations,  destroying,  tearing.  The  met- 
als rolled  up  like  thin  wire.  A  searchlight  is  turned 
on  the  Zeppelin,  a  bomb  extinguishes  it,  and  batteries 
which  had  fired  in  the  light  of  the  searchlight  were 
silenced  forever. 

The  Destruction  goes  its  way  along  the  line,  which  is  torn 
up  beyond  recognition.  A  train  approaches  at  racing  speed. 
With  thunderous  crashing,  which  is  heard  above  the  droning 
of  the  air-screws,  the  locomotive  pitches  into  the  ruins,  turns 
over,  the  train  burns.  British  troops  will  not  be  transported 
on  that  line  for  some  time  to  come.  The  German  Death 
swings  his  scythe,  and  prepares  himself  for  new  blows.  This 
is  war  —  war  which  you  would  have.  The  starved,  ruined 
Germany  approaches  you. 

Bombs  struck  a  remount  depot.  Many  hundreds  of  horses 
were  killed,  torn  to  pieces.  There  must  be  no  pity  for  these 
horses.  It  is  another  blow  for  the  British  front.  Do  the 
British  tacticians  require  horses  to  storm  the  trenches?  One 
less  trouble  for  our  comrades  on  the  Somme. 

Another  Zeppelin  is  approaching  the  coast.  "  Forward, 
yonder  is  England! "  There  is  a  ship  below.  Its  three  slender 
smokestacks  are  visible.  On  this  ship  fell  the  first  iron  greet- 

164 


THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

ing.  Badly  injured,  the  stricken  ship  runs  to  the  coast  and  is 
stranded.  "  One  ship  less."  At  the  end  of  Spurn  Head  the 
lighthouse  flames  out.  Crash  down  on  it  went  a  bomb,  and 
the  proud  edifice  toppled  over  and  fell  with  loud  tumult 
across  the  mole.  "One  mark  less  to  steer  by!"  "And  the 
loss  is  all  the  more  keenly  felt  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
navigating  the  river  up  to  Hull.  The  English  Admiralty,  of 
course,  denies  everything,  as  usual.  Lighthouse?  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  That  was  a  lame  mule  and  a  young,  innocent 
child  that  the  bomb  fell  on." 

Here  in  Grimsby  are  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  our 
U-boats  —  the  fishermen,  mine-sweepers,  and  the  patrol 
boatmen,  who  sniff  out  the  submarines.  Great  execution 
was  done  among  oil-tanks,  on  which  incendiary  bombs  were 
dropped.  We  get  the  words  of  command  which  the  com- 
manders of  the  Zeppelins  call  out  to  their  crews :  — 

"  Incendiary  bombs!" 

"Quick  fire!" 

Their  value  is  millions  of  pounds.  "Incendiary  bombs! 
And  in  eight  or  ten  places  fire  —  a  monstrous  fire,  lurid  in 
the  night.  The  place  is  bright  as  day.  Panic !  There  under- 
neath they  are  running  wildly  about,  seeking  to  save  them- 
selves, seeking  shelter.  Close  by  is  the  railway  station.  One 
train  after  another  steams  out  of  the  station,  and  a  congested 
mass  of  people  storms  the  building  seeking  flight.  Hundreds, 
thousands!" 

It  was  their  last  bomb.  "  The  air  seems  to  rotate,  a  cur- 
rent seizes  the  Zeppelin,  shakes  the  gondolas,  beats  on  the 
hull.  The  gigantic  torch  of  fire  is  our  sign-post  and  illumin- 
ates the  great  gray  Zeppelin,  which  soars  ever  higher  and 
higher,  unapproachable  as  it  stands  out  to  sea!" 

Now  the  absolute  truth  is  that  none  of  the  state- 
ments made  by  the  German  Government  or  the 
German  newspapers  is  true,  so  far  as  any  one  can  find 
out. 

A  writer  in  the  "Nineteenth  Century"  discusses  the 
reasons  for  such  fantastic  statements :  — 

165 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Nor  does  it  seem  likely  that  the  German  Government  had 
been  honestly  deceived  by  the  reports  of  its  secret  agents, 
for  what  object  could  any  agent  have  in  concocting  a  false 
story  in  such  a  case  for  the  government  employing  him?  One 
is  driven  in  such  a  case  to  the  hypothesis  of  calculated  men- 
dacity, though  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  anyone  could 
imagine  that  such  mendacity  paid.  For  a  falsehood  about 
things  so  easily  accessible  to  thousands  of  people  must  in- 
evitably be  discovered  and  show  the  German  Government 
to  the  whole  neutral  world  in  the  character  of  a  liar  —  as  in- 
deed happened  in  this  case,  when  the  Swedish  correspondent 
of  the  Stockholm  "  Dagblad"  went  to  Liverpool  to  find  out 
the  truth  on  the  spot. 

Since  the  above  was  written  the  German  mythological 
statements  about  the  damage  done  by  Zeppelins  to  Liver- 
pool and  Manchester  have  been  matched  by  the  statements 
with  regard  to  ravages  wrought  in  London  on  the  occasion 
of  a  visit  of  Zeppelins  which  never  took  place.  One  supposes 
that  the  German  Government  has  deliberately  decided  that 
the  need  of  administering  comfort  at  this  moment  (even  if 
illusory)  to  the  German  people  is  so  great  as  to  outweigh  the 
disadvantage  of  again  appearing  in  the  character  of  a  liar  to 
millions  outside  Germany.  Well,  the  German  Government 
should  know  its  own  business  best. 

The  German  people  absolutely  believe  these  fables. 
Dr.   Rohrbach,   speaking  of    the    Zeppelin    raids, 

writes :  — 

Even  before  Hindenburg's  appointment  our  enemy  Eng- 
land was  made  to  feel  that  our  air  attacks  had  become  more 
frequent  and  more  severe  than  formerly.  There  is  no  possi- 
ble doubt  that  very  severe  damage  has  been  done.  It  is  also 
certain  that  much  human  life  —  of  combatants  and  non- 
combatants  —  has  been  destroyed.  We  regret  this  deeply, 
and  have  sincere  sympathy  with  the  English  families  into 
which  mourning  has  come  and  will  still  come  —  more  mourn- 
ing than  many  a  man  and  woman  in  England  think  to-day. 
This  killing  and  wounding  of  people  of  the  middle  classes  by 

166 


THE  ZEPPELIN   RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

exploding  bombs,  fires,  and  the  collapse  of  walls  is  terrible, 
but  it  is  England  herself  and  nobody  else  that  forces  us  to 
do  it. 

England  is  a  thickly  settled  country.  Much  of  the 
destruction  has  been  in  cities,  towns,  and  villages. 
The  total  loss  of  life  in  the  forty-four  Zeppelin  raids 
ending  October  2,  1916,  was  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
one.  The  loss  of  property  was  commensurate  with  the 
loss  of  life.  Assuming  that  during  each  Zeppelin  raid 
one  hundred  bombs  were  dropped,  the  total  number 
would  be  forty-four  hundred.  It  was  stated  recently 
that  the  one  thousandth  shell  had  fallen  on  the 
Cathedral  at  Rheims.  In  fact  there  are  many  towns 
in  Belgium  and  France  that  have  suffered  more  ma- 
terial damage  than  all  Great  Britain  has  from  the 
Zeppelin  raids. 

Personally  I  made  a  thorough  investigation,  espe- 
cially of  the  raids  that  occurred  while  I  was  in  England. 
I  found  the  English  reports  accurate  and  the  German 
reports  purely  imaginative. 

A  Zeppelin  must  fly  very  high.  It  looks  about  as 
long  as  a  cigar.  How  can  the  commander  looking  down 
at  the  unlighted  cities  see  the  details  he  reports  ? 

Accepting  the  horrible  stories  of  the  destruction 
wrought  by  the  Zeppelin  as  true,  there  is  considerable 
discussion  in  Germany  of  the  ethics  of  the  mode  of 
warfare. 

Theodor  Kaftan,  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Prussian  Protestant  Church,  publicly  expressed  the 
hope  that  a  hundred  Zeppelins  would  drop  bombs  on 
England  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  the  best  way 
of  serving  the  cause  of  a  world-peace.  "Germania," 
the  Berlin  organ  of  the  Center  Party  and  of  the  Prus- 

167 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

sian  Roman  Catholics,  now  expresses  complete  ac- 
quiescence in  the  views  of  the  Protestant  Church 
dignitary  on  this  subject,  and  in  reply  to  the  Socialist 
indictment  writes :  — 

We  repudiate  most  emphatically  the  notion  that  there  is 
anything  in  aerial  warfare  (which  is,  moreover,  a  perfectly 
legitimate  means  of  attack,  and,  in  our  case,  doubly  justified 
for  well-known  reasons  when  applied  to  England)  that 
Christianity  can  condemn.  There  can  be  absolutely  no  ques- 
tion of  that.  It  is  true  that  for  the  Christian  war  is  a  bitter 
and  hard  trial,  ordained  by  God,  and  that  he  prays  and  im- 
plores God  it  may  be  brought  to  an  end  speedily.  This  can- 
not and  must  not,  however,  prevent  the  Christian  regarding 
himself  as  the  instrument  of  God  in  this  same  war,  and  from 
making  use  of  all  the  permissible  means  at  his  disposal  in 
order  to  gain  victory  for  his  nation  and  its  just  cause. 

The  Munich  "  Neueste  Nachrichten  "  publishes  a  long 
telegram  from  its  Berlin  correspondent,  who  says :  — 

We  shall  continue  to  wage  the  aerial  war  against  England 
as  a  war  on  fortified  or  otherwise  defended  positions  and  on 
military  works  as  we  have  done  heretofore.  We  have,  how- 
ever, prejudiced  the  success  of  our  superior  airship  weapon 
by  showing  consideration  as  far  as  possible  for  peaceable 
dwellings  and  art  works  in  the  neighborhood.  Although 
Zeppelins  have  flown  over  all  parts  of  London  they  have 
restricted  their  attacks  to  the  port  and  docks,  to  Woolwich 
Arsenal,  and  to  factories  for  military  requirements  in  other 
districts.  Zeppelins  will  not,  also,  in  future  deliberately  aim 
at  art  collections  or  at  buildings  artistically  valuable,  but, 
as  all  appeals  to  their  better  feeling  and  fair-mindedness  have 
proved  unavailing,  we  have  determined  to  speak  to  the 
English  in  language  they  will  perhaps  understand  better. 
Who  will  not  hear  must  feel. 

Even  the  "Kreuz  Zeitung,"  one  of  the  most  serious 
papers  of  Berlin,  believes  that  the  English  newspapers 

168 


THE  ZEPPELIN  RAIDS  IN  ENGLAND 

print  two  editions,  one  with  the  truth  about  the  Zep- 
pelin raids  for  home  consumption,  and  another  version 
for  foreign  countries  which  conceal  the  damage  done. 

Herr  Oskar  Schweriner,  who  supplies  the  "  Vossische 
Zeitung"  with  inventions  from  Amsterdam,  seems  to 
have  discovered  that  neutrals  do  not  believe  the 
German  official  lies  about  Zeppelin  raids  on  England. 
He  says  that  the  neutrals  read  the  German  reports, 
then  read  the  telegraphed  denials  from  England,  and 
then  look  at  the  English  newspapers.  They  argue 
that  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  the  British 
authorities  to  deny  the  truth  day  after  day  in  the 
British  press,  and  they  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Germans  are  lying.  Schweriner  is  ready  with  an  ex- 
planation. He  solemnly  declares  that  only  specially 
prepared  editions  of  the  London  papers  are  sent  abroad 
—  inappropriate  news  being  taken  out  of  the  London 
editions,  and  the  "Zeppelin  reports"  being  inserted 
instead.  He  explains  that  "  anybody  who  understands 
newspaper  production  knows  that  this  is  a  trifling 
matter,  which  takes  only  a  few  minutes." 

It  has  remained  at  last  for  Schweriner  to  expose  "the 
facts  which  the  British  Press  Department  has  hitherto 
succeeded,  by  the  employment  of  all  its  resources,  in 
keeping  secret." 

One  of  the  best-informed  American  correspondents 
is  Von  Wiegand,  of  the  New  York  "World."  After 
describing  a  new  and  more  powerful  type  of  Zeppelin 
that  is  expected  to  be  able  to  cross  the  Atlantic, 
he  adds  this  consoling  remark  for  the  Irish :  — 

I  learn  that  Ireland  is  outside  the  zone  prescribed  for 
Zeppelin  attacks;  that  so  far  as  Zeppelins  are  concerned 
Ireland  is  not  regarded  as  enemy  territory. 

169 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

What  is  the  truth  about  the  Zeppelin  raids?  Per- 
sonally, I  examined  the  results  of  several  raids  that 
occurred  while  I  was  in  England.  The  damage  was 
wholly  negligible.  I  had  German  and  English  official 
reports  in  my  hands.  I  found  no  inaccuracy  in  the 
English  reports.  I  never  found  a  truthful  statement 
in  the  German  reports.  Three  times  as  many  people 
were  killed  by  vehicles  and  street-cars  in  New  York 
City,  in  the  last  two  and  a  half  years,  as  were  killed  by 
Zeppelins  in  the  same  time.  The  number  killed  by 
accident  in  New  York  City  in  two  years  is  twelve 
times  the  number  killed  by  the  Zeppelins  in  all  their 
raids.  The  German  official  and  newspaper  reports  are 
pure  fantasy,  and  everybody  in  England  knows  it. 

What  is  the  effect  of  the  Zeppelin  raids? 

First  of  all,  there  has  been  no  destruction  of  life  or 
property  of  any  military  importance. 

Second :  They  brought  the  war  home  to  the  British 
people,  and  were  one  of  the  chief  causes  that  led  in 
two  years  to  the  raising  of  five  million  volunteers. 

Third :  The  German  reports,  which  are  republished 
fully  and  in  all  the  newspapers,  lead  the  English  people 
to  judge  all  statements  made  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment as  of  doubtful  credibility. 

I  can  close  this  study  of  the  Zeppelin  myth  in  a 
fitting  manner  with  an  extract  from  a  poem,  entitled 
"Battle  Prayer,"  by  Pastor  Dietrich  Vorwerk:  — 

"Oh,  Thou,  who  art  enthroned  on  high, 
Above  Cherubim,  Seraphim,  and  Zeppelins, 
Thou  whose  sword  is  the  lightning, 
And  whose  cannon  the  thunder, 
Send  down  thunder,  lightning,  hail  and  tempest 
Upon  the  heads  of  our  foes, 
And  hurl  them  headlong 
Into  the  dark  death-pits." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  GERMAN  ARMY  IN  BELGIUM  ACCORDING  TO 
GERMAN  DOCUMENTS 

The  essential  part  of  the  German  doctrine  of  war  is 
contained  in  the  following  passages  from  Clausewitz:  — 

Whoever  uses  force,  without  any  consideration  and  without 
sparing  blood,  has  sooner  or  later  the  advantage  if  the  enemy 
does  not  proceed  in  the  same  way.  One  cannot  introduce  a 
principle  of  moderation  into  the  philosophy  of  war  without 
committing  an  absurdity. 

It  is  a  vain  and  erroneous  tendency  to  wish  to  neglect  the 
element  of  brutality  in  war  merely  because  we  dislike  it. 

Half  a  century  afterwards  his  pupil  Von  Hartmann 
annotates  his  teaching  for  the  benefit  of  our  con- 
temporaries :  — 

It  would  be  giving  ourselves  up  lightheartedly  to  a  chimera 
not  to  realize  that  war  in  the  present  day  will  have  to  be 
conducted  more  recklessly,  less  scrupulously,  more  violently, 
more  ruthlessly,  than  ever  in  the  past.  .  .  . 

The  official  " Kriegsbrauch  im  Landkriege"  says:  — 

But  since  the  tendency  of  thought  of  the  last  century  was 
dominated  essentially  by  humanitarian  considerations  which 
not  infrequently  degenerated  into  sentimentality  and  flabby 
emotion  there  have  not  been  wanting  attempts  to  influence 
the  development  of  the  usages  of  war  in  a  way  which  was  in 
fundamental  contradiction  with  the  nature  of  war  and  its 
object.  Attempts  of  this  kind  will  also  not  be  wanting  in  the 
future,  the  more  so  as  these  agitations  have  found  a  kind  of 
moral  recognition  in  some  provisions  of  the  Geneva  Conven- 
tion and  the  Brussels  and  Hague  Conferences. 

Moreover,  the  officer  is  a  child  of  his  time.   He  is  subject 

171 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

to  the  intellectual  tendencies  which  influence  his  own  nation; 
the  more  educated  he  is  the  more  will  this  be  the  case.  .  .  . 
By  steeping  himself  in  military  history  an  officer  will  be  able 
to  guard  himself  against  excessive  humanitarian  notions; 
it  will  teach  him  that  certain  severities  are  indispensable  to 
war,  nay  more,  that  the  only  true  humanity  very  often  lies 
in  a  ruthless  application  of  them.  .  .  . 

Von  Hartmann  continues :  — 

Every  restriction  on  acts  of  war,  once  military  operations 
have  begun,  tends  to  weaken  the  coordinated  action  of  the 
belligerent.  The  law  of  nations  must  beware  of  paralyzing  mil- 
itary action  by  placing  fetters  upon  it.  .  .  . 

The  term  "civilized  war"  as  employed  by  Bluntschli 
seems  hardly  intelligible.  ...  It  leads  to  an  irreducible  con- 
tradiction. .  .  . 

Distress  and  damage  to  the  enemy  are  the  conditions 
necessary  to  bend  and  break  his  will.  The  efficacy  of  these 
methods  constitutes  their  undeniable  justification,  since  by 
them  one  can  attain  with  certainty  an  exactly  defined 
military  aim. 

Further  Von  Hartmann  says :  — 

The  combatant  has  need  of  passion.  .  .  .  All  military 
effort  requires  that  the  combatant  who  makes  this  effort 
shall  be  entirely  freed  from  the  shackles  of  a  constraining  legal- 
ity ichich  is  in  all  respects  oppressive. . .  .  Violence  and  passion 
are  the  two  principal  levers  of  every  warlike  act,  and  let  us 
say  it  without  fear,  of  all  warlike  greatness. 

The  great  General  Staff  declares :  — 

Every  means  of  war  without  which  the  object  of  the  war 
cannot  be  obtained  is  permissible.  .  .  .  It  follows  from  these 
universally  valid  principles  that  wide  limits  are  set  to  the  sub- 
jective freedom  and  arbitrary  judgment  of  the  Commanding 
Officer. 

Germany's  principles  of  war  are  explained  more  con- 
cretely in  an  article  that  was  published  February  10, 

172 


THE  GERMAN  ARMY  IN  BELGIUM 

1915,  in  the  "Kolnische  Zeitung"  by  the  adjutant  to 
the  Governor-General  of  Belgium,  Captain  Walter 
Bloem,  as  follows:  — 

This  principle  finds  its  justification  in  the  theory  of  terror. 
The  innocent  must  suffer  simultaneously  with  the  guilty, 
and,  if  the  latter  cannot  be  discovered,  instead  and  in  the 
place  of  the  latter;  this  punishment  is  not  inflicted  because 
a  crime  has  been  committed,  but  in  order  that  no  further 
crimes  shall  be  committed.  Every  destruction  of  a  village 
by  fire,  every  execution  of  hostages,  every  case  of  the  sup- 
pression of  part  of  the  population  of  a  commune  whose 
inhabitants  have  taken  up  arms  against  our  troops,  is  far 
less  an  act  of  vengeance  than  a  warning  sign  to  the  territory 
not  as  yet  occupied. 

And  this  cannot  be  doubted.  The  burning  of  Battice, 
Herve,  Louvain,  and  Dinant  was  a  series  of  warnings. 

War  is  not  a  society  diversion.  It  is  an  annex  of  hell.  He 
who  puts  his  finger  in  it  burns  his  hand,  his  soul,  and  loses 
his  life.  It  was  thus  that  the  poor  Belgian  people,  blinded 
and  led  astray,  fell  a  victim  to  it. 

Extract  from  a  Proclamation  to  the  Municipal  Authorities 

of  the  City  of  Liege 

August  22,  1914. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Andenne,  after  having 
declared  their  peaceful  intentions,  have  made  a  surprise 
attack  on  our  troops. 

It  is  with  my  consent  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  has 
ordered  the  whole  town  to  be  burned  and  that  about  one 
hundred  people  have  been  shot. 

I  bring  this  fact  to  the  knowledge  of  the  city  of  Liege,  so 
that  citizens  of  Liege  may  realize  the  fate  with  which  they 
are  menaced  if  they  adopt  a  similar  attitude. 

The  General  Commanding  in  Chief. 
(Signed)  Von  Bulow. 


173 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Notice  posted  at  Namur,  August  25, 1914 

(1)  French  and  Belgian  soldiers  must  be  surrendered  as 
prisoners  of  war  at  the  prison  before  four  o'clock.  Citizens 
who  do  not  obey  will  be  condemned  to  enforced  labor  for 
life  in  Germany. 

A  rigorous  inspection  of  houses  will  begin  at  four  o'clock. 
Every  soldier  found  will  be  immediately  shot. 

(2)  Arms,  powder,  dynamite,  must  be  surrendered  at  four 
o'clock.   Penalty:  death  by  shooting. 

The  citizens  who  know  where  a  store  of  arms  is  located 
must  inform  the  Burgomaster,  under  penalty  of  enforced 
labor  for  life. 

(3)  Each  street  will  be  occupied  by  a  German  guard  who 
will  take  ten  hostages  in  each  street,  whom  they  will  keep 
in  custody. 

If  any  outrage  is  committed  in  the  street,  the  ten  hostages 
will  be  shot. 

This  illustrates  the  principle  of  destroying  the  inno- 
cent if  the  guilty  cannot  be  found. 

Letter  addressed  on  August  27,  1914,  by  Lieutenant-General 
von  Nieber  to  the  Burgomaster  of  Wavre 

On  August  22,  1914,  the  General  commanding  the  Second 
Army,  Herr  von  Biilow,  imposed  upon  the  city  of  Wavre  a 
war  levy  of  three  million  francs,  to  be  paid  before  Septem- 
ber 1,  as  expiation  for  its  unqualifiable  behavior  (contrary  to 
the  Law  of  Nations  and  the  usages  of  war)  in  making  a  sur- 
prise attack  on  the  German  troops. 

The  General  in  command  of  the  Second  Army  has  just 
given  to  the  General  commanding  this  station  of  the  Second 
Army  the  order  to  send  in,  without  delay,  this  contribution 
which  it  should  pay  on  account  of  its  conduct. 

I  order  and  command  you  to  give  to  the  bearer  of  the 
present  letter  the  two  first  instalments,  that  is  to  say,  two 
million  francs  in  gold. 

Furthermore,  I  require  that  you  give  the  bearer  a  letter 

174 


THE  GERMAN  ARMY  IN  BELGIUM 

duly  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  city,  stating  that  the  bal- 
ance, that  is  to  say,  one  million  francs,  will  be  paid,  without 
fail,  on  the  first  of  September. 

I  draw  the  attention  of  the  City  to  the  fact  that  in  no 
case  can  it  count  on  further  delay,  as  the  civil  population  of 
the  City  has  put  itself  outside  the  Law  of  Nations  by  firing 
on  the  German  soldiers. 

The  City  of  Wavre  will  be  burned  and  destroyed  if  the 
levy  is  not  paid  in  due  time,  without  regard  for  any  one; 
the  innocent  will  suffer  with  the  guilty. 

In  a  proclamation  of  September  8,  1914,  signed 
"Dieckmann,  Major  in  Command,"  appears  the 
following :  — 

In  order  to  be  sure  that  this  permission  is  not  abused,  the 
Burgomasters  of  Beyne-Heusay  and  of  Grivegnee  shall 
immediately  draw  up  a  list  of  persons  who  shall  be  held  as 
hostages,  at  the  fort  of  Fleron,  in  twenty-four-hour  shifts; 
on  September  6,  for  the  first  time,  from  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  until  midday,  September  7. 

The  life  of  these  hostages  will  depend  upon  the  population 
of  the  aforesaid  communes  remaining  pacific  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. 

I  will  designate  from  the  lists  submitted  to  me  the  persons 
who  will  be  detained  as  hostages  from  noon  of  one  day  to 
noon  of  the  next  day.  If  the  substitute  does  not  arrive  in 
time,  the  hostage  will  remain  another  twenty-four  hours. 
After  this  second  period  of  twenty-four  hours,  the  hostage 
incurs  the  penalty  of  death  if  the  substitution  is  not  made. 

Hostages  be  will  chosen,  primarily,  from  among  Priests, 
Burgomasters,  and  other  members  of  the  civic  administra- 
tion. 

Notice  'posted  at  Brussels,  November  1,  19 H 

A  legally  constituted  Court  Martial  has  pronounced,  the 
28th  of  October,  1914,  the  following  condemnations :  — 

(1)  Upon  Policeman  De  Ryckere  for  attacking,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  legal  functions,  an  agent  vested  with  German 

175 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

authority,  for  willfully  inflicting  bodily  injury  on  two  occa- 
sions, in  concert  with  other  persons,  for  facilitating  the 
escape  of  a  prisoner,  on  one  occasion,  and  for  attacking  a 
German  soldier  —  Five  years  imprisonment. 

(2)  Upon  Policeman  Seghers  for  attacking,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  legal  functions,  an  agent  vested  with  German  author- 
ity, for  willfully  inflicting  bodily  injury  upon  said  German 
agent,  and  for  facilitating  the  escape  of  a  prisoner  (all  these 
offenses  constituting  a  single  act)  —  Three  years  imprison- 
ment. 

These  sentences  have  been  confirmed  by  Governor  Gen- 
eral Baron  von  der  Goltz,  on  October  31,  1914. 

The  city  of  Brussels,  excluding  suburbs,  has  been  punished 
for  the  crime  committed  by  its  policeman  De  Ryckere 
against  a  German  soldier  by  an  additional  fine  of  five  million 
francs. 

The  Governor  of  Brussels, 
(Signed)  Baron  von  Luetwitz, 

General. 
Brussels,  November  1,  191^. 


Proclamation  posted  in  Brussels,  September  25,  1914 
(General  Government  in  Belgium) 

It  has  happened  recently,  in  some  places  which  are  not 
at  the  present  time  occupied  by  strong  forces  of  German 
troops,  military  convoys  or  patrolling  parties  have  been 
attacked  by  surprise  by  the  inhabitants. 

I  draw  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  fact  that  a  record 
is  kept  of  the  towns  and  villages  in  the  vicinity  of  which 
such  attacks  have  taken  place  and  that  they  must  expect 
their  punishment  as  soon  as  German  troops  pass  near  by. 

The  Governor-General  of  Belgium, 
(Signed)  Baron  von  der  Goltz, 

Field  Marshal. 
Brussels,  25th  September. 


176 


THE  GERMAN  ARMY  IN  BELGIUM 

Notice  posted  at  Brussels,  October  5,  1914,  and  presumably 
in  most  of  the  Communes  in  the  country 

On  the  evening  of  September  25,  the  railway  and  telegraph 
lines  were  destroyed  on  the  Lovenjoul-Vertryck  line. 

Consequently,  the  two  above-mentioned  places,  on  the 
morning  of  September  30,  had  to  give  an  account  and  to 
furnish  hostages. 

In  the  future,  the  communities  in  the  vicinity  of  a  place 
where  such  things  happen  (no  matter  whether  or  not  they 
are  accomplices)  will  be  punished  without  mercy. 

To  this  end,  hostages  have  been  taken  from  all  places  in 
the  vicinity  of  railroad  lines,  menaced  by  such  attacks,  and, 
at  the  first  attempt  to  destroy  the  railroad  tracks  or  the 
telegraph  or  telephone  wires,  they  will  be  immediately  shot. 

Furthermore,  all  troops  in  charge  of  the  protection  of  the 
railroad  lines  have  received  orders  to  shoot  any  person 
approaching,  in  a  suspicious  manner,  the  railroad  tracks  or 
the  telegraph  or  telephone  lines. 

The  Governor-General  of  Belgium, 
(Signed)  Baron  von  der  Goltz, 

Field  Marshal. 

One  must  recall  the  fact  that  during  the  siege  of 
Antwerp  (which  terminated  only  on  the  9th  of  Octo- 
ber) Belgian  patrols  were  penetrating  into  the  midst 
of  the  German  troops,  venturing  thirty-five  miles  and 
more  from  Antwerp,  their  mission  being  to  harass  the 
enemy's  communications  and  to  destroy  the  railways 
and  the  telegraph  and  telephone  lines.  It  was  one  of 
these  bodies  of  Belgian  cyclists  which  cut  the  railway 
and  the  telegraph  line  between  Louvain  and  Tirlemont 
on  September  25,  1914. 

Notice 

All  damage  done  to  the  telegraph,  telephone,  or  railway 
lines  will  be  punished  by  the  Military  Court.   According  to 

177 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  circumstances,  the  guilty  person  will  be  condemned  to 
death.  If  the  guilty  person  is  not  seized  the  severest  measures 
will  be  taken  against  the  commune  in  which  the  damage  has 
been  done. 

The  General  Government.1 

On  the  29th  of  August,  1914,  at  Munster,  General 
von  Bissing  addressed  the  population  of  the  seat  of  the 
Seventh  Army  Corps  in  a  proclamation  which  con- 
tained the  following  words :  — ■ 

If  a  blind  and  infuriated  population  miserably  slaughters, 
in  treacherous  attacks,  the  valiant  sons  of  our  people,  who 
go  to  meet  death  for  their  country,  as  well  as  the  wounded, 
the  medical  officers,  and  the  ambulance-bearers;  if  (armed) 
bands  compromise  the  security  of  the  armies  on  their  rear, 
then  self-preservation  commands  us,  and  it  is  a  sacred  duty 
on  the  part  of  military  commandants,  to  combat  them  imme- 
diately by  extreme  measures.  In  such  a  case  the  innocent 
must  suffer  with  the  guilty.  In  their  repeated  communiques 
the  directors  of  our  army  have  allowed  no  doubt  to  subsist 
in  this  respect.  That  in  the  repression  of  infamy  human 
lives  cannot  be  spared,  and  that  isolated  houses,  flourishing 
villages  and  even  entire  towns  are  annihilated,  is  assuredly 
regrettable,  but  this  must  not  excite  ill-timed  sentimentality. 
All  this  must  not  in  our  eyes  weigh  as  much  as  the  life  of  a 
single  one  of  our  brave  soldiers.  That  is  self-evident,  and 
properly  speaking,  there  is  no  need  to  say  it.  .  .  .  Who  speaks 
here  of  barbarism  commits  a  crime.  The  rigorous  accomplish- 
ment of  duty  is  the  emanation  of  a  high  Kultur,  and  in  that 
the  population  of  the  enemy  countries  can  learn  a  lesson 
from  our  army. 

As  fresh  attempts  at  assassination  have  been  made  upon 
persons  forming  part  of  the  German  army  I  have  had  per- 
sons from  many  localities  arrested  as  hostages.  These  will 
guarantee  with  their  lives  that  no  inhabitant  will  again  dare 

1  Printed  by  H.  A.  Heymann,  Berlin,  S.W.  (Posted  at  Tervueren;  copy 
made  15th  of  April,  1915.) 

178 


THE  GERMAN  ARMY  IN   BELGIUM 

to  commit  a  malevolent  action  against  German  soldiers  or 
attempt  to  damage  the  railway,  telegraph,  or  telephone  line, 
or  other  objects  useful  to  the  operations  of  our  army. 

Persons  not  belonging  to  the  army  surprised  in  commit- 
ting such  actions  will  be  shot  or  hanged.  The  hostages  of 
the  surrounding  localities  will  suffer  the  same  fate.  I  shall 
then  have  the  neighborhood  burned  to  the  last  house,  even 
if  important  towns  are  in  question.  If  the  hostages  attempt 
to  escape,  the  locality  to  which  they  belong  will  be  burned, 
and  if  captured  the  hostages  will  be  hanged. 

The  Commandant  entrusted  with  the  Protection  of  the  Railways, 

Freiherr  von  Malzahn.1 

All  civilized  nations  including  Germany  have  signed 
certain  agreements  at  The  Hague,  including  the  fol- 
lowing: — 

No  collective  penalty,  pecuniary  or  otherwise,  shall  be 
inflicted  upon  the  population  on  account  of  the  acts  of 
individuals  for  which  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  collectively 
responsible. 

1  Posted  at  Spa,  Aywaille,  Chatelineau  ...  17  August,  1914. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  OF  THE  GERMAN  TROOPS 

IN   BELGIUM 

There  are  certain  facts  that  are  accepted  by  Germany 
as  well  as  by  England  and  France :  — 

First:  That  Germany  has  stripped  the  Belgian  people 
of  nearly  all  their  removable  property. 

Second:  That  by  causing  the  provinces  of  Belgium 
to  print  currency  to  pay  the  monthly  levy  for  the 
support  of  the  army  of  occupation,  by  forcing  upon 
Belgium  the  mark  at  a  fixed  rate  of  exchange,  and 
further  by  actually  removing  from  the  banks  the 
money  of  Belgium,  Germany  has  Mexicanized  the 
financial  machinery  and  currency  of  Belgium. 

Third:  That  during  the  invasion  of  Belgium,  several 
thousand  civilians  were  put  to  death,  and  many 
thousands  taken  as  prisoners  to  Germany. 

Fourth:  That  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Belgians 
have  been  deported  to  Germany  in  a  manner  that  the 
world  at  large  calls  enslavement. 

Fifth:  That  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Belgians  in 
Belgium  and  in  Germany  are  compelled  to  aid  Ger- 
many in  her  war  against  Belgium. 

All  the  above  facts  are  substantiated  by  German 
authorities. 

I.  The  Belgian  Allegations 

The  student  of  the  documents  as  to  the  so-called 
Belgian  atrocities  finds  a  formidable  mass  of  material, 
but  there  are  certain  matters  that  can  be  cleared  up 
only  after  the  war. 

180 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 

I  propose  herewith  to  present  objectively  illustra- 
tive material  from  the  best  available  data. 

First,  we  feel  on  sure  ground  in  the  statements  of 
Cardinal  Mercier  in  his  pastoral  letter  of  Christmas, 
1914:  — 

Belgium's  unhappy  fate. 

Better  than  any  other  man,  perhaps,  do  I  know  what  our 
unhappy  country  has  undergone.  Nor  will  any  Belgian,  I 
trust,  doubt  of  what  I  suffer  in  my  soul  as  a  citizen  and  as 
a  Bishop,  in  sympathy  with  all  this  sorrow.  These  last  four 
months  have  seemed  to  me  an  age  long.  By  thousands  have 
our  brave  ones  been  mowed  down.  Wives,  mothers  are 
weeping  for  those  they  shall  not  see  again;  hearts  are  deso- 
late; dire  poverty  spreads,  anguish  increases. 

At  Malines,  at  Antwerp  the  people  of  two  great  cities  have 
been  given  over,  the  one  for  six  hours,  the  other  for  thirty- 
four  hours,  to  a  continuous  bombardment,  to  the  throes  of 
death. 

I  have  traversed  the  greater  part  of  the  districts  most  ter- 
ribly devastated  in  my  diocese,  and  the  ruins  I  beheld,  and 
the  ashes,  were  more  dreadful  than  I,  prepared  by  the  sad- 
dest of  forebodings,  could  have  imagined. 

Other  parts  of  my  diocese,  which  I  have  not  had  time  to 
visit  have  in  like  manner  been  laid  waste.  Churches,  schools, 
asylums,  hospitals,  convents  in  great  numbers  are  in  ruins. 
Entire  villages  have  all  but  disappeared.  At  Werchter- 
Wackerzeel,  for  instance,  out  of  380  homes  130  remain.  At 
Tremeloo  two  thirds  of  the  village  are  overthrown.  At 
Bueken  out  of  100  houses,  20  are  standing.  At  Schaffen 
189  houses  out  of  200  are  destroyed;  11  still  stand.  At 
Louvain  the  third  part  of  the  buildings  are  down;  1074  dwell- 
ings have  disappeared.  On  the  town  land  and  in  the  suburbs 
1623  houses  have  been  burned. 

The  destruction  at  Louvain 

In  this  dear  city  of  Louvain,  perpetually  in  my  thoughts, 
the  magnificent  Church  of  St.  Peter  will  never  recover  its 

181 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

former  splendor.  The  ancient  College  of  St.  Ives,  the  art 
schools,  the  consular  and  commercial  schools  of  the  Univer- 
sity, the  old  markets,  our  rich  library  with  its  collections, 
its  unique  and  unpublished  manuscripts,  its  archives,  its 
gallery  of  great  portraits  of  illustrious  rectors,  chancellors, 
professors,  dating  from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  which 
preserved  for  masters  and  students  alike  a  noble  tradition, 
and  were  an  incitement  in  their  studies,  all  this  accumula- 
tion of  intellectual,  of  historic  and  of  artistic  riches,  the  fruit 
of  the  labors  of  five  centuries  —  all  is  in  the  dust. 

Many  a  parish  lost  its  pastor.  There  is  now  sounding  in 
my  ears  the  sorrowful  voice  of  an  old  man,  of  whom  I  asked 
whether  he  had  mass  on  Sunday  in  his  battered  church.  "  It 
is  two  months,"  he  said,  "since  we  had  a  church."  The 
parish  priest  and  the  curate  had  been  interned  in  a  concen- 
tration camp. 

Hundreds  of  innocent  men  were  shot.  I  possess  no  com- 
plete necrology;  but  I  know  that  there  were  ninety -one  shot 
at  Aerschot  and  that  there,  under  pain  of  death,  their  fellow 
citizens  were  compelled  to  dig  their  graves.  In  the  Louvain 
group  of  communes  176  persons,  men  and  women,  old  men 
and  sucklings,  were  shot  or  burned. 

List  of  some  priests  killed 

In  my  diocese  alone  I  know  that  thirteen  priests  were  put 
to  death.  Their  brothers  in  religion  or  in  the  priesthood  will 
wish  to  know  their  names.  Here  they  are:  Dupierreux,  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  Brothers  Sebastian  and  Allard,  of  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Josephites,  Brother  Candide,  of  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Brothers  of  Mercy,  Father  Maximin, 
Capuchin,  and  Father  Vincent,  Conventual;  Lombaerts, 
parish  priest  at  Boven-Loo;  Goris,  Parish  priest  at  Autgaer- 
den;  Carette,  professor  at  the  Episcopal  College  of  Louvain; 
de  Clerck,  parish  priest  at  Bueken;  d' Argent,  parish  priest 
at  Gelrode,  and  Wouters  Jean,  parish  priest  at  Pont-Brule. 
We  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  parish  priest  of  Herenta, 
Van  Bladel,  an  old  man  of  seventy-one,  was  also  killed.  Until 
now,  however,  his  body  has  not  been  found. 

182 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 

One  of  these,  the  parish  priest  of  Gelrode,  suffered,  I  be- 
lieve, a  veritable  martyrdom.  I  made  a  pilgrimage  to  his 
grave,  and  amid  the  little  flock  which  so  lately  he  had  been 
feeding  with  the  zeal  of  an  apostle,  there  did  I  pray  to  Him 
that  from  the  height  of  Heaven  He  would  guard  His  parish, 
His  diocese,  His  country. 

(I  have  said  that  thirteen  ecclesiastics  had  been  shot 
within  the  Diocese  of  Malines.  There  were,  to  my  own 
actual  personal  knowledge,  more  than  thirty  in  the  Diocese 
of  Namur,  Tournai,  and  Liege:  —  Schlogel,  parish  priest  of 
Hastiere;  Gille,  parish  priest  of  Couvin;  Pieret,  curate  at 
Etalle;  Alexandre,  curate  at  Mussy-la-Ville;  Marechal, 
seminarist  at  Maissin;  the  Reverend  Father  Gillet,  Bene- 
dictine of  Maredsous;  the  Reverend  Father  Nicolas,  Pre- 
monstratensian  of  the  Abbey  of  Leffe;  two  brothers  of  the 
same  abbey;  one  brother  of  the  Congregation  of  Oblates; 
Poskin,  parish  priest  of  Surice;  Hotlet,  parish  priest  of  Les 
Alloux;  Georges,  parish  priest  of  Tintigny;  Glouden,  parish 
priest  of  Latour;  Zenden,  retired  parish  priest  at  Latout; 
Jacques,  a  priest;  Druet,  parish  priest  of  Acoz;  Hollart, 
parish  priest  of  Roselies;  Labeye,  parish  priest  of  Biegny- 
Trembleur;  Thielen,  parish  priest  of  Haccourt;  Janssen, 
parish  priest  of  Heure  le  Romain;  Chabot,  parish  priest  of 
Foret;  Dossogne,  parish  priest  of  Hockay;  Reusonnet, 
curate  of  Olme;  Bilande,  chaplain  of  the  Institute  of  Deaf 
Mutes  at  Bouge;  Docq,  a  priest,  and  others  of  God.) 

Priests  did  not  incite  civilians 

Wherever  it  has  been  possible  I  have  questioned  our  peo- 
ple, our  clergy,  and  particularly  a  considerable  number  of 
priests  who  had  been  deported  to  German  prisons,  but  whom 
a  principle  of  humanity,  to  which  I  gladly  render  homage, 
has  since  set  at  liberty.  Well,  I  affirm,  upon  my  honor,  and 
I  am  prepared  to  assert  upon  faith  of  my  oath,  that  until 
now  I  have  not  met  a  single  ecclesiastic,  secular  or  regular, 
who  had  once  incited  civilians  to  bear  arms  against  the 
enemy.  All  have  loyally  followed  the  instructions  of  their 
Bishops,  given  in  the  early  days  of  August,  to  the  effect  that 

183 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

they  were  to  use  their  moral  influence  over  the  civil  popula- 
tion so  that  order  might  be  preserved  and  military  regula- 
tions observed. 

Until  the  German  Government  is  able  to  prove  that 
these  priests  violated  the  rules  of  war  the  whole  world 
will  agree  with  Cardinal  Mercier. 

There  is  also  a  little  book  entitled  The  "Germans  in 
Belgium,"  by  a  Dutch  professor,  L.  H.  Grondys,  Ph.D. 
of  the  Technical  Institute  of  Dordrecht.  He  was 
present  at  the  sack  of  Lou  vain.  Here  are  illustrative 
paragraphs :  — 

Germans  told  me  that  the  bombardment  was  to  commence 
at  noon,  and  that  the  town  must  be  evacuated  before  that 
hour.  Some  nuns,  alarmed,  but  still  quite  self-possessed, 
were  making  for  their  convents  without  undue  haste.  In 
the  Rue  de  Namur  I  was  accosted  by  the  Professor  of  His- 
tory at  the  University,  Canon  Cauchie,  to  whom  I  had  for- 
merly been  introduced.  He  begged  me  to  accompany  him 
and  Mgr.  Ladeuze  to  Brussels.  I  promised  to  rejoin  these 
two  venerable  gentlemen  at  the  house  of  the  Rector. 

Indescribable  confusion  reigned  in  the  Rue  des  Moutons. 
Pale  as  death,  the  orphans  were  marching  in  an  irregular 
troop.  On  a  wheelbarrow,  pushed  by  a  little  old  man,  lay  a 
nonagenarian  nun.  The  crowd  showed  immense  terror  and 
a  wildness  that  boded  ill. 

The  Germans  ordered  the  whole  population  to  go  towards 
the  station.  The  majority  did  just  the  contrary,  and  fled  in 
the  direction  of  Mechlin  and  Brussels.  All,  men  and  women 
alike,  who  took  the  road  indicated  to  them  by  the  Germans 
were  to  be  imprisoned  and  transported  to  Germany.  While 
I  helped  M.  Scharpe  to  carry  his  most  precious  treasures  to 
the  cellar,  the  Professor  told  me  he  had  vainly  besought  the 
Commandant  to  spare  our  quarter,  where  nothing  reprehen- 
sible had  occurred.  Major  von  Manteuffel  flatly  refused. 
The  whole  town  was  to  pay  for  the  pretended  misdeeds  com- 
mitted by  some  of  the  citizens. 

184 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES   IN   BELGIUM 

In  discussing  the  causes  of  the  sack  of  Louvain 
Professor  Grondys  gives  the  results  of  careful  investi- 
gations by  himself;  he  says:  — 

The  Germans  assert  that  inhabitants  fired  on  them  on  the 
evening  of  August  25.  They  explain,  accordingly,  their  con- 
duct at  Louvain  as  a  simple  application  of  their  abominable 
theory  which  renders  whole  communities  responsible  for 
alleged  violence  committed  by  one  of  their  number. 

The  Belgians  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  no  inhabitant  of 
Louvain  fired  on  the  troops.  The  Germans,  according  to 
them,  sought  a  trivial  pretext  to  be  able,  without  the 
shadow  of  excuse,  to  carry  out  a  coldly  premeditated  project. 

I  have  often  discussed  this  question  with  German  officers, 
and  particularly  with  Doctors  of  Law,  mobilized  in  their 
army. 

They  have  had  to  admit  that  in  all  these  affairs  none  of 
the  rules  necessary  for  the  constitution  of  judicial  proof 
were  observed.  Even  in  officers  who  might  have  wished  to 
proceed  in  regular  fashion  against  the  accused,  the  precepts 
of  the  supreme  German  Staff  soon  weakened  the  sense  of 
justice.  Why  long  interrogatories,  which  mean  considerable 
loss  of  precious  time,  when  the  accused  is  guilty,  inasmuch 
as  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  a  commune  all  of  whose  members 
are  responsible  for  the  misdeeds  committed  by  one  of  their 
number? 

At  Louvain  houses  were  fired  into  indiscriminately.  Citi- 
zens were  seized  on  all  hands,  and,  without  even  seeking  any 
proof  of  their  guilt,  private  soldiers  shot  them  in  their  homes. 
The  soldiers  themselves  have  told  me  so.  I  need  not  repro- 
duce all  their  conversations.  I  need  only  certify  that  their 
poor  intelligences  were  able  to  draw  the  unavoidable  logical 
conclusions  from  the  German  theory,  newly  invented,  as  to 
responsibility  in  time  of  war.  This  theory  gives  them  in 
advance  entire  absolution  for  all  the  injustice,  no  matter  how 
cruel,  they  may  commit.  The  enormous  value  of  the  sim- 
plest German  warrior  is  such  that  if  a  soldier  is  killed  in  a 
town,  the  town  is  accursed,  and  all  its  inhabitants  lose  their 
right  to  live. 

185 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

As  a  result  of  an  interrogatory  of  German  prisoners  of 
war  in  France,  it  is  established  that  among  a  column  which 
passed  through  the  town  of  Louvain  after  the  first  day  of 
disaster  a  panic  occurred  because  of  a  rifle-shot  which  rang 
out.  The  rumor  immediately  spread  that  a  soldier  had  been 
killed  by  a  civilian.  Forthwith  the  troops  began  firing  into 
the  houses.  Enormous  excitement  and  great  disorder  pre- 
vailed for  some  time,  until  it  was  discovered  that  no  soldier 
had  been  wounded.  Suppose  that  in  this  tumult  a  soldier 
had  been  killed  by  his  brothers-in-arms  seized  with  excessive 
nervousness,  a  new  legend  would  then  have  been  added  to 
the  others! 

It  seems  that  during  the  evening  of  August  25  a  similar 
panic  seized  the  garrison  of  Louvain.  The  reader  must  re- 
member that  during  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the  Belgian 
army  was  approaching  the  town.  A  part  of  the  garrison 
started  out  to  meet  it;  the  rest  of  the  garrison,  awaiting 
reinforcements,  which  arrived  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
certainly  spent  hours  of  anxiety.  At  nightfall  the  troops, 
which  had  started  some  hours  previously,  returned  to  the 
town.  A  large  number  of  witnesses  declare  that  those  who 
remained  in  the  city  mistook  their  identity  and  fired  on 
their  brothers-in-arms.  It  is  quite  possible  that  during 
these  skirmishes  the  returning  troops  imagined  they  were 
being  attacked  by  civilians,  and  this  is  all  the  more  prob- 
able as  the  garrison  showed  little  zeal  in  enlightening 
them. 

So  far  one  may  admit  the  good  faith  of  the  soldiers.  Now, 
however,  comes  in  the  German  military  theory  as  to  repri- 
sals in  time  of  war.  If  the  troops  attacked  by  alleged  civil- 
ians cannot  distinguish  their  actual  assailants,  why,  then,  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  others!  The  whole  community  is 
responsible.  This  doctrine,  adopted  by  university  professors, 
has  been  promulgated  by  German  generals  in  proclamations 
affixed  to  all  the  walls.  Thus  the  devastation  of  Louvain  is 
nothing  but  the  logical  consequence  of  a  dangerous  juridical 
paradox  which  is  taught  seriously  nowhere  in  the  world  but 
in  Germany.  And  the  soldiers  who  entered  houses  and  in 
their  fury  killed  men  in  the  presence  of  their  wives  and  chil- 

186 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 

dren,  without  proof  and  without  question  —  these  male- 
factors are  guilty  of  nothing  but  a  breach  of  discipline. 

During  the  days  preceding  the  disaster  I  was  able  to  see 
that  the  people  nourished  no  designs  of  vengeance.  I  spoke 
with  professors,  shopkeepers,  people  generally,  and  I  found 
among  them,  if  not  a  spirit  of  perfect  submission  caused  by 
the  executions  at  Aerschot,  Linden,  Haelen,  etc.,  at  least  a 
pronounced  intention  to  await  quietly  the  expected  victory 
of  the  Allies.  The  persons  to  whom  I  spoke  had  confidence 
in  me,  and  for  that  matter,  they  showed  it  by  the  communi- 
cations they  made  me. 

One  piece  of  evidence  of  special  gravity  confirmed  my 
conclusions.  Two  leading  men  of  Louvain,  who  are  worthy 
of  entire  confidence,  told  me  that  on  the  morning  of  August 
26,  while  walking  in  the  garden  of  one  of  them  (Rue  de 
Namur),  they  heard  close  to  them  a  fusillade  that  lasted 
twenty  minutes.  Mounting  a  ladder,  they  saw,  behind  the 
wall  which  ran  round  the  garden,  two  German  soldiers, 
hidden  among  trees,  firing  into  the  street  —  if  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, the  Rue  des  Moutons.  Their  shots  appeared  to  pro- 
ceed from  the  houses,  and  the  soldiers  who  passed  by  must 
have  thought  that  the  inhabitants  were  firing  at  them. 

The  same  evening  I  saw  in  the  street,  at  the  place  where 
the  soldiers  had  fired,  the  corpses  of  two  horses  still  saddled. 
Most  of  the  fugitives  who  left  the  town  next  day  must  have 
noticed  these.  Later,  at  Brussels,  an  officer  told  me  that 
at  Louvain  two  officers  on  horseback  had  been  killed  by 
civilians,  and  that  this  was  why  the  authorities  decided  to 
burn  the  town. 

When  it  began  to  burn,  the  Germans  observed  in  the  pop- 
ulation a  state  of  feeling  which  alarmed  them.  It  has  been 
thought  that  the  chief  object  of  the  Germans  in  burning 
Louvain  was  to  warn  the  people  of  Brussels  that  a  similar 
fate  awaited  them  in  case  of  rebellion.  This  supposition  is, 
perhaps,  confirmed  by  the  threat  made  at  Creil  and  Senlis 
by  German  officers:  "We  will  burn  Senlis  to  the  ground  to 
warn  the  Parisians."  And  certainly  at  Senlis  there  was  no 
motive  for  bombarding  the  cathedral  and  burning  two  or 
three  streets. 

187 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Professor  Grondys  describes  the  horrors  of  the 
flight  from  Louvain.  He  gives  the  following  illustra- 
tion of  the  special  hostility  of  the  Germans  against 
priests :  — 


German  troops  and  the  priests  of  Louvain  in  the 
field  of  Tervueren 

I  was  the  more  eager  to  intervene  in  favor  of  my  traveling 
companions,  as  the  meadow  in  which  they  were  herded  had 
just  been  the  scene  of  the  execution  of  a  priest,  and  anything 
was  to  be  feared  from  the  soldiers  in  their  then  frame  of 
mind. 

While  I  was  talking  with  the  Major  we  were  told  that  a 
priest  carrying  compromising  papers  had  been  shot.  I  deter- 
mined to  find  out  all  I  could  about  the  occurrence.  This  is 
what  I  learned  from  eye-witnesses  whose  evidence  I  was 
able  to  test. 

Among  the  inhabitants  of  Louvain  who  were  flying  to- 
wards Brussels,  only  those  who  wore  the  ecclesiastical  habit 
were  arrested.  The  guard  of  Tervueren  first  apprehended 
some  thirty  priests,  among  whom  were  Mgr.  de  Becker, 
Principal  of  the  American  College  of  Louvain,  and  Mgr. 
Willemson,  the  late  Rector  of  the  same  College,  since  ap- 
pointed to  Rome,  but  temporarily  at  Louvain,  and  several 
Jesuit  Fathers.  Their  pockets  and  valises  were  searched. 
Nothing  suspicious  was  found  except  on  one  of  the  younger 
Jesuits,  Pere  Dupierreux,  a  little  notebook  bearing  the  fol- 
lowing note  in  French :  — 

When  formerly  I  read  that  the  Huns  under  Attila 
had  devastated  towns,  and  that  the  Arabs  had  burned 
the  Library  of  Alexandria,  I  smiled.  Now  that  I  have 
seen  with  my  own  eyes  the  hordes  of  to-day,  burning 
churches  and  the  celebrated  Library  of  Louvain,  I  smile 
no  longer. 

This  Jesuit  Father  had  a  praiseworthy  habit  of  noting 
his  impressions  in  this  manner.  But  to  have  this  reproachful 

188 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

reflection  in  one's  pocket  in  war-time  was  an  imprudence 
for  which  the  poor  priest  was  made  to  pay  in  tragic  fashion. 

Before  the  assembled  troops,  the  thirty  priests  were 
drawn  up  in  a  semicircle  round  the  unfortunate  Jesuit.  The 
note  was  first  read  in  French,  and  then  translated  into 
German.  The  priest  who  was  reading  it  was  interrupted  by 
the  exclamations  of  the  soldiers.  The  Lieutenant  announced 
that  incitement  to  murder  being  proved,  the  Father  would 
be  shot  at  once.  He  was  allowed  to  confess.  After  confession, 
his  eyes  were  bound. 

The  priests  were  told  to  wheel  round.  The  firing  party 
advanced.  The  order  was  given,  and  the  shots  rang  out. 
The  other  priests  were  made  to  watch  the  death  agony  of  the 
unhappy  man.  When  he  was  dead,  they  were  ordered  to 
bury  him  on  the  spot. 

After  that,  the  Lieutenant  read  the  following  proclama- 
tion: — 

In  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  I  arrest  you  as  hostages, 
to  be  conveyed  with  our  column  across  Belgium.  If  a 
single  shot  is  fired  by  the  population  on  our  troops,  you 
will  all  be  killed. 

I  have  quoted  at  some  length  from  Professor 
Grondys,  because  he  was  on  the  spot,  was  a  neutral, 
and  writes  with  clarity  and  convincingness. 

There  is  another  book,  this  time  by  a  Belgian  jour- 
nalist, Gustave  Somville.  It  is  confined  to  the  events 
between  the  invasion  of  Belgium  and  the  capture  of 
Liege.  It  deals  only  with  events  in  August,  1914. 
Mr.  Somville  at  considerable  personal  risk  followed  the 
invading  armies,  and  in  some  cases  visited  towns  within 
a  few  hours  after  the  occurrence  of  the  events  he  nar- 
rates. He  gives  lists,  with  age  and  sex,  of  the  civilians 
killed  in  those  early  days.  I  quote  from  the  pages  of 
the  book  to  illustrate  its  character :  — 


189 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I 'rancor •champs 

Francorcharnps  ( Francorum  campus)  is  a  summer  resort. 
The  German  army  began  to  pass  through  it  on  the  morning 
of  the  4th.  It  was  at  the  news  of  the  check  inflicted  upon 
them  before  the  forts  that  their  fury  broke  forth.  Murders 
and  cases  of  incendiarism  date,  for  the  most  part,  from 
Saturday  the  8th  and  Friday  the  14th;  that  is,  from  after  the 
vigorous  resistance  of  the  Belgian  army,  and  the  second 
refusal  of  Belgium  to  agree  to  the  German  proposals. 

On  Saturday  the  8th,  no  one  knowing  why,  the  troops 
began  to  fire  into  the  windows,  seizing  the  inhabitants,  and 
shooting,  we  are  told,  thirteen;  three  of  whom  were  women. 
The  whole  population  took  flight,  and  the  troops  pillaged 
the  houses,  carried  off  the  wine  from  the  Hotel  des  Fagnes, 
etc.  In  the  courtyard  of  the  hotel  a  woman  of  sixty-five, 
Madame  Bovy,  happened  to  be  coming  forward  with  a  jug 
of  milk  for  the  soldiers ;  the  latter  shot  her,  to  pretend,  later 
on,  that  she  had  fired  upon  the  troops. 

Other  tragic  incidents  were  recorded.  A  young  girl  carry- 
ing a  child  was  wounded  by  several  bullets:  the  child  was 
killed  in  her  arms. 

M.  Laude,  an  advocate  of  Brussels,  who  was  taking  a 
holiday  at  Francorchamps,  fled,  with  his  family,  when  the 
shooting  of  inhabitants  began:  they  took  refuge  in  a  cellar. 
The  Germans  pillaged  the  ground  floor  and  were  trying  to 
break  in  the  cellar  door;  M.  Laude  and  his  brother-in-law 
went  to  open;  they  were  shot  down;  the  women  and  children 
were  violently  expelled;  one  woman  gave  birth  to  a  child  in 
the  course  of  the  flight.  M.  Laude's  body  was  afterwards 
found  in  the  ruins,  carbonized;  his  brother-in-law's  corpse 
was  lying  in  the  garden. 

Some  of  the  inhabitants  were  led  to  a  spot  near  a  brick- 
field, and  were  shot.  Finally,  the  inhabitants  were  themselves 
forced  to  load  the  stolen  articles  of  furniture,  which  were 
sent  into  Germany.  The  remainder  was  broken,  to  render  it 
useless,  or  thrown  into  the  fire. 


190 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 

Hockay 

Hockay  is  a  hamlet  of  Francorchamps,  almost  level  with 
the  Baraque  Michel,  the  highest  point  of  Belgium. 

The  cure,  who  was  rather  an  oddity,  was  a  Germanophile. 
The  invaders  fired  on  the  houses  in  passing,  pretending  that 
a  shot  had  been  fired  from  the  tower  of  the  little  church. 
They  burned  three  houses  and  pillaged  others.  They  exe- 
cuted a  M.  Cloes,  who  protested  that  his  fellow-citizens 
were  innocent;  and  they  announced  that  other  executions 
were  to  follow. 

The  cure  presented  himself.  "If  a  victim  is  required," 
he  said,  "let  it  be  myself!"  He  was  seized;  they  dragged 
him  to  Tiege  (Sart),  beating  him  unmercifully  and  subject- 
ing him  to  every  insult.  "It  was  he  who  fired,"  cried  a 
soldier;  "I  saw  him;  he  fired  ten  times!"  In  spite  of  imme- 
diate intervention  and  courageous  protest  on  the  part  of 
numerous  inhabitants,  the  devoted  priest  was  shot. 

Lince 

Until  the  morning  unspeakable  scenes  were  enacted  in  all 
directions.  .  .  . 

After  many  vicissitudes  the  inhabitants  arrested  were 
taken  to  the  field  of  execution.  Sixteen  or  seventeen  were 
shot  there. 

.  .  .  Thus  perished  those  whom  the  people  of  Lince,  in- 
consolable at  their  loss,  declare  to  have  been  the  flower  of 
the  population.  For  truly  it  seems  as  though  misfortune 
had  descended  most  implacably  upon  the  most  upright  and 
beneficent. 

These  were  the  victims  of  Lince :  — ■ 


Felicien  Balthazar 

11  years 

Nicolas  Ninane 

74  years 

Gerard  Mathieu 

16 

Joseph  Radoux 

65 

Nicolas  Mathieu 

25 

Mathieu  Quoilin 

17 

Alfred  Pahaut 

SI 

Alphonse  Servais 

9 

Pirmez-de  Looz 

48 

Mathieu  Dognee 

75 

R.  Pirmez-du  Monceau 

24 

Joseph  Graffaux 

39 

Melchior  Nandrin 

67 

Eugene  Grignard 

54 

Ulrich  Nandrin 

35 

Alphonse  Lebir 

43 

101 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 


Auguste  Moureau 

50  years 

Victor  Lebir 

86  years 

Joseph  Moreau 

51 

Lucien  Lejeune 

32 

Alfred  Duperon 

52 

Nicolas  Lemaire 

69 

Leon  Boulanger 

49 

Joseph  Dehez 

50 

Victor  Briffot 

32 

Julien  Derenne 

45 

fimile  Delmotte 

36 

Emile  Pingret 

59 

Celestin  Delcommune 

66 

Hubert  Masson 

55 

Alphonse  Delcommune 

61 

Raymond  Flagothier 

26 

Jean  Bertrand 

159 

Louveigne:  the  bloody  fortnight 

An  old  soldier  said:  "  Yesterday  we  got  a  terrible  drubbing 
in  front  of  the  forts  of  Liege."  The  Germans,  indeed,  wore 
a  gloomy  and  infuriated  air.  At  noon  those  arrived  who  had 
been  burning  and  killing  at  Lince.  They  looted  the  drink- 
shops,  unhappily  numerous;  soon  many  soldiers  were  in  a 
state  of  intoxication.  Shots  were  fired,  to  the  right,  to  the 
left;  and  the  officers  began  to  shout:  "The  civilians  are 
firing;  there  are  francs-tireurs  here!" 

It  was  an  insane  idea.  For  three  days  the  inhabitants 
had  not  ceased  to  provide  the  Germans  with  everything 
they  desired;  they  were  overrun  with  the  latter  to  such  an 
extent  that  if  any  one  had  conceived  the  crazy  idea  of 
attacking  them,  he  could  not  have  put  it  into  execution 
without  being  taken  in  the  act. 

The  inhabitants  protested:  — 

"No;  no  one  could  have  fired.  Where  has  any  one  fired 
from?  " 

"There!"  said  the  Germans,  pointing;  "some  one  fired 
from  that  house/' 

It  was  the  house  of  M.  Leonard  Charlier,  who  had  left  the 
day  before. 

"  But  there  is  no  one  there! " 

"That  makes  no  difference!" 

The  house  was  fired,  and  was  soon  in  flames. 

A  dozen  men  were  arrested,  among  them  men  of  seventy- 
four  and  eighty  years  of  age,  and,  as  always,  the  cur6  of  the 
parish.  They  were  struck  and  kicked,  and  forced  to  hold 
their  hands  in  the  air;  they  were  threatened  with  death. 

192 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 

The  men  were  led  out  to  be  shot,  despite  the  tears  and 
protests  of  the  women  and  the  cries  of  the  children.  They 
were  crowded  into  a  little  forge,  situated  at  the  northwest 
angle  of  the  cross-roads.  About  half -past  six  they  were  told: 
"Go  now,  but  on  the  run,  or  else  .  .  ."  The  unfortunate 
men  ran,  and  the  Germans  amused  themselves  by  bringing 
them  down  with  the  rifle.  A  few  escaped  death  by  crouching 
at  the  bottom  of  a  ditch  or  drain. 

At  seven  in  the  evening  the  incendiaries  got  to  work,  with 
benzine,  tar,  incendiary  lozenges,  and  rockets  —  all  the 
customary  means  employed  by  the  German  army.  Women 
and  children  fled,  distracted.  The  central  portion  of  the 
fommune  was  a  furnace. 

On  the  15th  the  Germans  murdered  two  young  men  who 
were  quietly  walking  through  the  village. 

Here  is  the  list  of  the  inhabitants  massacred,  with  their 
approximate  ages.    The  majority  left  widows  and  orphans. 

Adam,  Alfred,  52  years.  Thonon,  Joseph,  29  years. 

Sluse,  Joseph,  communal  councilor  Bonnesire,  Hadelin,  30  years. 

Sluse,  Joseph,  45  years,  carpenter.  Dejong,  Albert,  28  years. 

Sluse,  Leon,  17  years.  Dejong,  Joseph,  30  years. 

Kansy,  Joseph,  33  years.  Dejong,  Georges,  17  years. 

Dethier,  Arnold,  80  years.  Collard,  Lucien,  24  years. 

Delhase,  Joseph,  33  years,  butcher.  Grandry,  Eugene,  37  years. 

Delhasse,  J.,  30  years,  farmer.  Cornet,  Victor,  postman. 

Collette,  Marcel,  25  years.  Ancion,  Camille,  25  years. 

Kerf,  Louis,  35  years.  Delrez,  Genevieve,  25  years,  wife  of 
Harmant,  Martial,  28  years.  Martial  Harmant. 

Mean-Dethiers,  Helene,  40  years.  Defaaz,  Joseph,  32  years. 
Deenil,  70  years. 

And  four  others  not  identified,  doubtless  strangers  to  the 
commune. 

Or  a  total  of  twenty-eight  victims. 

Victor  Cornet,  postman,  was  pierced  with  bayonet 
wounds  before  he  was  shot.  Madame  Mean,  who  was  in- 
firm, was  asphyxiated  in  a  cellar.  The  three  Dejongs  were 
brothers.   Delhase,  butcher,  was  killed  by  saber  cuts. 

Young  Leon  Sluse  was  put  to  death  at  Theux,  after  having 
been  tortured  all  along  the  road  thither. 

193 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

On  the  9th  of  February,  1915,  the  Germans  opened  an 
inquiry  at  Louveigne,  seeking  in  vain  to  discover  an  act  of 
aggression  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants. 

Melen-la-Bouxhe:  a  scene  of  extermination 

Neither  on  this  day  nor  on  Wednesday  was  any  definite 
accusation  brought  against  the  villagers.  Even  the  usual 
"Man  hat  geschossen!"  was  not  uttered.  There  were  horri- 
ble scenes;  one  has  not  the  heart  to  record  them.  The  list  of 
the  victims'  names  will  tell  more  than  any  narrative. 

I  quote  only  names  of  women  from  the  list  of 
eighty-one  victims  of  Melen-la-Bouxhe:  — 

Benoit,  Marie,  12  years. 

Brayeur,  Marie,  nee  Weyenberg,  38  years,  wife  of  Brayeur. 

Brayeur,  Anna,  their  daughter,  12  years. 

Cresson,  Marie,  nee  Franck,  40  years,  wife  of  Andre  Cresson. 

Cresson,  Therese,  11  years. 

Cresson,  Catherine,  7  years. 

Degueldre,  Marie,  18  years,  daughter  of  Olivier,  shot  and  her  body  burned 

to  ashes. 
Rouschops,  Marie,  nee  Kusters,  42  years,  wife  of  Pierre;  their  child  of  5 

was  saved,  but  had  two  fingers  almost  severed. 
Wislet,  Marie,  his  wife,  nee  Dupont,  41  years,  wife  of  Louie  Wislet. 
Wislet,  Marguerite,  20  years,  shot  and  her  skull  smashed  open  with  the 

rifle-butt. 

The  massacre  of  Saint-Hadelin  (Olne) 

If  there  ever  was  a  peaceful  spot  it  was  this  picturesque 
hamlet  of  Saint-Hadelin,  hidden  away  in  a  fold  of  the  hills, 
and  away  from  the  frequented  roads.  Well,  the  Germans 
discovered  it,  and  they  made  of  it  a  place  of  massacre  and 
horror. 

The  inhabitants  of  Saint-Hadelin  ingenuously  trusted 
the  soldiers.  War  was  the  conflict  of  two  armies,  nothing 
more. 

Yet  as  early  as  the  5th  of  August  there  had  been  acts  of 
violence  in  the  neighborhood;  it  was  learned  that  there  had 
been  victims  at  Foret,  and  it  was  said  in  some  quarters  that 
young  men  had  been  butchered  in  the  fields  near  Soumagne. 

194 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

People  began  to  foresee  that  the  troops  would  soon  be- 
come violent. 

Part  of  the  population  took  refuge  in  the  church  and  in 
M.  Jamme's  old  weaving-shed.  .  .  . 

The  Fleron  fort  continued  to  fire.  At  eleven  o'clock  a  shell 
fell  with  a  crash  in  front  of  the  school,  killing  a  horse  and 
wounding  several  men.  Upon  this  the  Germans  became 
furious.  They  entered  the  house  of  the  schoolmaster, 
M.  Warmer,  and  arrested  him,  with  all  his  family,  as  also 
the  keeper,  Jean  Naval. 

"They  have  fired,"  said  the  Germans.  "Who  has  warned 
the  fort  of  our  presence  here?" 

M.  Warnier  replied:  "The  fort  is  two  miles  from  here. 
No  one  could  have  warned  them." 

But  they  would  listen  to  nothing.  With  an  accompani- 
ment of  insults  and  brutalities,  M.  Warnier  was  pushed 
along  towards  the  little  chapel  close  by.  His  wife  followed 
him,  a  young  child  in  her  arms,  pleading  and  beseeching. 
She  was  driven  back  by  blows  of  the  Germans'  rifle-butts. 
Her  face  covered  with  blood,  she  continued  to  plead,  but 
in  vain. 

Her  husband  was  shot  before  her  eyes;  then,  in  the  midst 
of  a  scene  of  unspeakable  savagery,  she  witnessed  the  mur- 
der of  her  children.  Her  two  boys  fell  dead;  her  young 
daughters  were  next  to  be  shot  down.  Bertha  lay  under  the 
body  of  Nelly,  who  was  mortally  wounded;  for  fifteen 
minutes  she  heard  her  dying  struggle  for  breath,  and  felt 
her  die.  Grievously  wounded  herself,  and  with  a  broken 
arm,  she  was  conscious  of  the  whole  hideous  drama.  Mo- 
tionless, she  heard  the  cries  of  Madame  Naval,  who  fell 
fainting  as  the  Germans  were  about  to  shoot  her  husband, 
Jean  Naval,  while  their  little  boy,  only  five  or  six  years  old, 
pleaded  with  them:  "Mister  soldier,  don't  hurt  papa;  he 
did  n't  do  anything;  he's  so  good." 

Some  people  of  that  hamlet  came  forward  in  all  simplicity, 
bringing  provisions,  —  such,  at  least,  it  was  proved,  was  the 
case  with  Gillet,  Dhanen,  Dethier,  Maguet,  and  the  De- 
wandres.  All  were  upright  and  peaceable  men;  Maguet  was 
the  model  of  the  village,  a  man  of  generous  and  worthy 

195 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

character;  while  the  Dewandres  were  handsome  young  men, 
noted  for  their  good  hearts  and  obliging  nature.  They  were 
added  to  the  rest,  and  now  there  were  a  hundred  persons 
awaiting  death.  The  execution  was  carried  out  by  small 
batches,  at  the  spot  known  as  the  Ash-Tree. 

One  of  the  doomed  men,  M.  Polet  of  Ayeneux,  a  retired 
schoolmaster,  a  man  of  high  character,  was  revolted  by  the 
cowardice  of  the  executioners.  When  he  was  ordered  to  take 
up  his  position  for  execution,  the  old  man  refused  with  dis- 
dain; he  was  shot  on  the  little  hillock  on  which  he  stood,  in 
an  attitude  full  of  dignity  and  courage. 

Survivors  report  that  before  the  shooting  began,  Jacques 
Maguet,  turning  to  the  whole  group  of  prisoners,  recited  in 
a  loud,  firm  voice  the  act  of  contrition,  which  all  repeated, 
sentence  by  sentence.  Then,  when  his  turn  had  come,  and 
he  was  being  pushed,  with  others,  toward  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, Maguet  raised  his  hat  and  shouted:  "Vive  la  Bel- 
gique!"  "Vive  la  Belgique!"  repeated  his  companions, 
as  though  electrified.  And  the  patriotic  cry  was  raised 
again. 

"Listen  to  your  companions  cheering!"  said  an  officer, 
who  stood  some  distance  away;  he  was  greatly  moved.  But 
the  demonstration  merely  increased  the  rage  of  the  other 
Germans;  they  began  to  bawl  insults  at  the  Belgians, 
jf^  "Ah!"  said  one  of  the  survivors,  "when  we  heard  that 
shout,  Vive  la  Belgique!  we  felt  a  shiver  run  through  our 
whole  being;  we  plucked  up  courage,  feeling  that  we,  too, 
like  our  brave  soldiers,  were  dying  for  our  country." 

H  The  following  incident  is  given  on  page  125  of  Mr. 
Somville's  book :  — 

While  Hopa  was  led  away  towards  Liege,  his  wife  re- 
mained with  the  five  children.  All  five  were  found,  burned 
to  ashes,  in  the  remains  of  their  house.  It  seems  clear  that 
this  monstrous  crime  was  intentional.  "  I  was  being  taken 
away  by  the  Germans,"  says  a  witness.  "It  was  dark.  As 
we  passed  the  Hopas'  house,  the  officer  gave  his  men  the 
order  to  fire  and  enter  the  house.  Then  I  heard  the  shrieks 

196 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN   BELGIUM 


of  the  women  and  children,  while  some  one  said,  '  Set  fire  to 
the  place!'" 

It  was  the  same  with  the  neighboring  house,  the  Lefins' ; 
and  there,  too,  the  father  had  been  carried  off.  The  mother 
remained  with  the  child;  they  perished  in  the  flames. 

In  the  mean  time,  at  the  spot  known  as  Les  Communes, 
the  Germans  had  killed  or  burned  twenty-eight  persons. 
Here  are  the  names  of  these  victims :  — • 


Leonard  Bony,  34  years. 
Alexandrine  Vieillevoie,  his    wife, 

34  years. 
Hubertine,  their  daughter,  2  years. 
Gerard  Melotte,  56  years. 
Armand  Perrick,  25  years. 
Joseph  Labeye,  51  years,  and  his 

two  sons. 
Jean-Denis  Labeye,  20  years. 
Mathieu  Labeye,  19  years. 
Mathieu  Renier,  52  years. 
Therese     Renier,     his     daughter, 

20  years. 
Olivier  Renier,  his  son,  19  years. 
Noel  Outers,  70  years. 
Fagard,  senior,  missing. 
Gerard  Lehane,  19  years. 


Francois  Lehane,  brother  of  Gerard, 

17  years. 
Louis  Lehane,  brother  of  Gerard 

and  FranQois,  12  years. 
Jacques    Flamand,    of    Heuseaux, 

Marie  Leers,  his  wife,  and  their 

father,  aged  94. 
Ida  Froidmont,  wife  of  Th.  Ren- 
sonnet. 
Henry  Rensonnet,  her  son,  25  years. 
Daniel  Bourdouxhe,  76  years  and 

Marguerite    Mawet,    his    wife, 

75  years. 
Josephine  Bourdouxhe,    27  years, 

their  daughter,  married. 
Her   two   daughters,   aged   2  and 

5  years. 


There  were  ninety  houses  burned  in  Barchon  during  this 
terrible  night.  The  few  that  remained  were  plundered  by 
the  soldiers  and  are  half  destroyed. 

Those  who  were  killed  —  all  innocent  victims  —  met 
their  death  in  various  ways.  Some  were  transfixed  by  the 
bayonet  as  they  opened  the  door  to  the  soldiers  who  were 
battering  at  it;  others  were  killed  in  their  gardens,  or  on  the 
road,  or  wherever  they  had  sought  a  refuge;  many  were 
caught  in  the  flames  or  were  thrown  into  them. 

And  so  for  nearly  three  hundred  pages. 

There  is  a  great  mass  of  material  consisting  of 
diaries  and  letters  of  German  soldiers.  In  the  archives 
of  the  French  Government  I  saw  a  collection  of  six 
hundred  diaries  and  thousands  of  letters  which  had 

197 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

been  taken,  I  was  told,  from  German  prisoners,  or 
dead  German  soldiers. 

Under  the  title  *' Germany's  Violation  of  the  Laws 
of  War"  the  French  Government  has  reproduced  some 
of  these  documents  in  facsimile.  Here  are  some  speci- 
mens :  — 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Fritz  Krain,  of  the  4th 
Battalion  of  Light  Horse  {Reserve),  4th  Reserve  Corps, 
concerning  the  murder  of  a  young  girl. 

Carried  off  four  bottles  of  wine  in  my  bag.  Our  first 
bivouac  in  France.  There  will  soon  be  a  battle,  I  hope. 
When  we  went  to  fetch  water  we  encountered  a  girl  with  a 
revolver.   Shot  her  dead  and  took  her  revolver. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Menge,  of  the  74th  Regi- 
ment of  Infantry\Reserve),  10th  Reserve  Corps,  record- 
ing the  hanging  of  a  Belgian  priest  and  his  sister. 

Saturday,  August  15.  Marched  from  Elsenborn.  Giving 
three  cheers  for  our  Emperor  and  singing  Deutschland  uber 
Alles,  we  crossed  the  Belgian  frontier.  All  trees  cut  down 
to  serve  as  barricades.  A  parish  priest  and  his  sister 
hanged.    Houses  burnt. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Max  Peich,  17th  Regiment  of 
Infantry,  14th  Army  Corps,  recording  the  murder  of  three 
men  and  a  boy  at  Fumay  {Ardennes). 

August  24th.  The  brick-works  were  searched  once  more 
and  three  men  and  a  youngster  were  brought  out  of  one  of 
the  kilns.   They  were  shot  forthwith. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Philipp,  of  the  178th 
Regiment  of  Infantry,  12th  Army  Corps,  describing  the 
massacre  of  the  civil  population  in  a  village  near  Dinant. 

At  10  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  first  battalion  of  the  178th 
marched  down  the  steep  incline  into  the  burning  village  to 

198 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

the  north  of  Dinant.  A  terrific  spectacle  of  ghastly  beauty. 
At  the  entrance  to  the  village  lay  about  fifty  dead  civilians, 
shot  for  having  fired  upon  our  troops  from  ambush.  In  the 
course  of  the  night  many  others  were  also  shot,  so  that  we 
counted  over  two  hundred.  Women  and  children,  lamp  in 
hand,  were  forced  to  look  on  at  the  horrible  scene.  We  ate 
our  rice  later  on  in  the  midst  of  the  corpses,  for  we  had  had 
nothing  since  morning.  When  we  searched  the  houses  we 
found  plenty  of  wine  and  spirit,  but  no  eatables.  Captain 
Hamann  was  drunk.   [This  last  phrase  in  shorthand.] 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Lieutenant  Reisland,  of  the  117th 
Regiment  of  Infantry,  12th  Army  Corps,  describing  the 
burning  of  several  villages  in  Belgium. 

August  25,  1914.  More  burning.  A  village  perched  on  a 
height  was  almost  entirely  in  flames.  When  I  saw  it  in  the 
distance,  I  thought  of  the  burning  of  Valhalla  in  the  Gotter- 
ddmmerung.  A  magnificent,  but  heartrending  sight. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  an  anonymous  soldier  of  the  11th 
Battalion  of  Light  Infantry,  11th  Army  Corps,  concerning 
massacres  at  Lejfe  and  Dinant. 

At  Leffe  nineteen  civilians  shot.  Women  begging  for 
mercy  as  we  marched  towards  the  Meuse. 

Ten  more  men  have  been  shot.  The  King  having  directed 
the  people  to  defend  the  country  by  all  possible  means,  we 
have  received  orders  to  shoot  the  entire  male  population. 

At  2  p.m.  furious  rifle  and  cannon  fire  and  awful  heavy 
artillery  fire  on  the  Meuse. 

At  Dinant  about  one  hundred  men  or  more  were  huddled 
together  and  shot.   A  horrible  Sunday. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Karl  Scheufele  of  the  3rd 
Bavarian  Regiment  of  Landwehr  Infantry,  describing  the 
burning  of  Saint- Maurice  (Meurthe-et-Moselle)  and  its 
inhabitants. 

In  the  night  of  August  18-19,  the  village  of  Saint-Maurice 
was  punished  for  having  fired  on  German  soldiers,  by  being 

199 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

burnt  to  the  ground  by  the  German  troops  (two  regiments, 
the  12th  Landwehr  and  the  17th).  The  village  was  sur- 
rounded, men  posted  about  a  yard  from  one  another,  so  that 
no  one  could  get  out.  Then  the  Uhlans  set  fire  to  it,  house  by 
house.  Neither  man,  woman,  nor  child  could  escape;  only 
the  greater  part  of  the  live  stock  we  carried  off,  as  that  could 
be  used.  Any  one  who  ventured  to  come  out  was  shot  down. 
All  the  inhabitants  left  in  the  village  were  burnt  with  the 
houses. 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Max  Thomas,  of  the  107th 
Regiment  of  Infantry  (8th  Saxons),  19th  Army  Corps,  de- 
scribing the  crimes  committed  by  the  German  troops  at 
Spontin  (Belgium). 

August  23,  Spontin.  A  company  of  the  107th  and  108th 
had  orders  to  stay  behind  and  search  the  village,  take  the 
inhabitants  prisoners,  and  burn  the  houses.  At  the  entrance 
to  the  village,  on  the  right,  lay  two  young  girls,  one  dead, 
the  other  severely  wounded.  The  priest  too  was  shot  in 
front  of  the  station.  Thirty  other  men  were  shot  according 
to  martial  law,  and  fifty  were  made  prisoners. 

Extract  from  the  diary  of  Fr.  Treinen,  a  volunteer  enlisted  in 
the  237th  Regiment  of  Infantry  (Reserve),  describing  the 
murder  of  a  young  man  near  Routers  (Belgium). 

October  19,  1914.  The  owners  of  this  property,  rich  and 
distinguished-looking  people,  fill  the  air  with  their  lamen- 
tations and  call  upon  the  mercy  of  God.  We  make  a  search 
and  find  a  revolver  on  the  person  of  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
one.  Screaming  with  terror  he  is  dragged  out  to  the  front  of 
the  farmhouse  and  there  shot  before  the  eyes  of  his  parents 
and  brothers  and  sisters. 

The  sight  was  more  than  I  could  stand.  After  that  a  light 
was  put  to  the  splendid  barn  and  everything  was  destroyed. 


200 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

Extract  from  the  notebook  of  Private  Willmer  of  the  lfith  Bri- 
gade, Ersatz  Battalion,  10th  Division,  Ersatz  Corps,  re- 
cording the  plundering  of  Champenoux,  at  Brin  (Meurthe- 
et-Moselle),  and  at  Loupmont  (Meuse). 

September  5.  In  the  village  of  Champenoux  —  between 
the  lines  (station)  Brin,  looted  busily.  Some  rare  things  as 
booty,  ham  and  bacon,  and  above  all  wine.  The  village  was  a 
pitiable  sight.  Bombarded.  .  .  .  Wine  and  more  wine.  Sacks 
and  cases  full.  Even  wineglasses.  The  soldiers  of  every  arm 
shared  in  the  spoils,  and  plundered  to  the  music  of  the  shells. 

October  5.  At  Loupmont  a  fine  country  house,  beautiful 
room  with  Persian  carpet:  slaughtered  sow  on  it;  in  the 
bed  sucking-pig  also  slaughtered.  Blood  running  down  the 
stairs. 

Diary  of  a  Saxon  officer  (unsigned)  178th  Regiment, 
88th  Army  Corps  (Saxon  Corps). 

r26th  August.  The  pretty  village  of  Gue-d'Hossus  in  the 
Ardennes  has  been  burnt,  although  innocent  of  any  crime, 
it  seemed  to  me.  I  was  told  a  cyclist  had  fallen  off  his  ma- 
chine, and  that  in  doing  so  his  gun  had  gone  off:  so  they 
fired  in  his  direction.  Thereupon,  the  male  inhabitants  were 
simply  consigned  to  the  flames.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  such 
atrocities  will  not  be  repeated. 

-  Langeviller,  22d  August.  Village  destroyed  by  the  11th 
Battalion  of  the  Pioneers.  Three  women  hanged  on  trees: 
the  first  dead  I  have  seen.  .  .  . 

In  this  way  we  destroyed  eight  houses  with  their  inmates. 
In  one  of  them  two  men  with  their  wives  and  a  girl  of  eight- 
een were  bayoneted.  The  little  one  almost  unnerved  me,  so 
innocent  was  her  expression.  But  it  was  impossible  to  check 
the  crowd,  so  excited  were  they,  for  in  such  moments  you 
are  no  longer  men,  but  wild  beasts. 

When  I  was  in  Belgium  (February,  1916)  I  was  told 
about  a  mass  of  documents  and  material  collected 
by  Professor  Jean  Massart,  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 

201 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Belgium.  Professor  Massart  has  recently  published 
this  material,  and  it  appears  in  English  under  the 
title  "Belgians  under  the  German  Eagle."  Professor 
Massart  spent  twelve  months  in  Belgium  after  the 
invasion.  His  book  constitutes  a  documented  and 
terrible  indictment.  It  is  one  of  the  books  that  should 
be  tested  by  a  neutral  commission. 

From  this  book  I  make  the  following  extracts :  — 

A  little  further  to  the  east  the  first  German  troops  who 
had  passed  through  Schaffen,  near  Diest,  on  the  13th  or  14th 
August,  had  there  tortured  the  blacksmith  Broeden.  All 
day  long  he  had  labored,  shoeing  the  horses  of  the  enemy's 
cavalry.  Early  in  the  evening  he  repaired  to  the  church, 
with  the  sacristan,  with  the  object  of  saving  some  precious 
articles  which  had  not  been  placed  in  security.  He  was  sur- 
prised by  the  soldiery  and  seized.  Successively  the  Germans 
broke  his  wrists,  his  arms,  and  his  legs;  perhaps  he  suffered 
yet  other  tortures.  When  he  was  apparently  lifeless  the 
soldiers  asked  him  whether  he  thought  that  he  would  in 
future  be  capable  of  undertaking  any  kind  of  labor.  On  his 
replying,  in  an  almost  inaudible  tone,  that  he  did  not,  they 
declared  that  in  that  case  he  ought  not  to  continue  to  live. 
Immediately  they  threw  him,  head  first,  into  a  ditch  dug 
for  the  purpose;  then  the  ditch  was  filled,  leaving  his  feet 
protruding. 

Moral  tortures  before  execution 

To  force  those  about  to  be  shot  to  dig  their  own  graves,  as 
they  did  at  Tavigny,  is  quite  a  commonplace  method.  In 
the  Fonds  de  Leffe,  on  the  23d  August,  1914,  they  perfected 
their  mode  of  operation.  They  had  called  up  eight  men  of 
Dinant  to  bury  the  victims  as  they  were  shot  (there  was  so 
much  work  to  do  that  it  had  to  be  entrusted  to  experienced 
hands).  In  the  evening  each  of  the  gravediggers  dug  his 
own  grave;  four  were  shot,  and  buried  by  their  colleagues; 
just  as  these  were  about  to  suffer  the  same  fate  an  officer 

202 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

"pardoned"  them:  not  out  of  humanity  (that  would  have 
been  too  decent),  but  simply  because  their  services  would 
be  required  during  the  following  days. 

The  most  important  execution  was  that  of  123  (others 
say  127)  inhabitants  of  Rossignol  and  its  immediate  sur- 
roundings, who  were  shot  on  26th  August.  They  were  taken 
near  the  viaduct  which  passes  over  the  Arlon  railway  station 
(towards  the  connecting  station).  They  were  killed  in  small 
groups  of  ten  or  twelve.  Those  who  were  not  dead  were  fin- 
ished with  the  bayonet.  Each  group  had  to  climb  over  the 
surrounding  corpses.  They  kept  to  the  last  a  lady  of  Ros- 
signol, Madame  Hurieaux,  who  thus  had  to  see  her  husband, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  her  village  killed 
before  her  eyes.  She  died  crying,  "Vive  la  Belgique!  Vive 
la  France!" 

Extracts  from  a  narrative  by  Father  Gamarra,  a  South 
American  priest,  of  the  destruction  of  Louvain. 

The  inhabitants  fled  in  terror  through  the  flames  and  were 
shot  in  the  street  in  the  most  pitiless  manner.  No  considera- 
tion was  shown  either  to  the  old  or  to  the  priests  (who  were 
objects  of  special  hatred)  or  to  women  or  children.  Whole 
families  perished  from  asphyxiation  in  the  cellars  of  their 
own  houses. 

Father  Gamarra  reckons  that  no  fewer  than  four  hundred 
persons  perished  on  that  night,  either  shot  or  burnt  alive  or 
suffocated.  The  reverend  priest  will  never  forget  the  horri- 
ble scenes  which  he  witnessed. 

The  torture  of  the  inhabitants  of  Louvain  continued  on 
that  day,  the  26th,  and  50,000  of  them  were  obliged  to  leave 
the  town.  They  were  taken  to  Hanover  and  other  German 
towns  by  hundreds  in  cattle  trucks.  In  the  German  stations 
the  populace  clamored  for  the  death  of  the  prisoners. 
Regular  caravans  of  women  were  driven  towards  Tirlemont 
on  foot  for  some  thirty  kilometres,  and  some  of  these  were 
pregnant.  Other  groups  were  kept  prisoners  in  the  fields 
and  on  the  hills  and  were  obliged  to  eat  raw  potatoes  and 
roots. 

203 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Helpless  Victims 

By  Mrs.  Nina  Larrey  Duryee 

Hotel  Windsor, 
Dinard,  France,  September  1,  191&. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times:  — 

This  is  written  in  great  haste  to  catch  the  rare  boat  to 
England.  The  author  is  an  American  woman,  who  has  spent 
nine  happy  summers  in  this  beautiful  corner  of  France,  where 
thousands  of  her  compatriots  have  likewise  enjoyed  Brit- 
tany's kindly  hospitality. 

Yesterday  I  saw  issuing  through  St.  Malo's  eleventh- 
century  gates  three  hundred  Belgians  refugees,  headed  by 
our  Dinard  Mayor,  M.  Cralard.  I  try  to  write  calmly  of  that 
procession  of  the  half-starved,  terror-ridden  throng,  but 
with  the  memory  of  those  pinched  faces  and  the  stories  we 
heard  of  murder,  carnage,  burning  towns,  insulted  women, 
it  is  difficult  to  restrain  indignation.  They  had  come  from 
Charleroi  and  Mons  —  old  men,  women,  and  little  children. 
Not  a  man  of  strength  or  middle  age  among  them,  for  they 
are  dead  or  away  righting  the  barbarians  who  invested  their 
little  country  against  all  honorable  dealings. 

Such  a  procession!  They  had  slept  in  fields,  eaten  berries, 
carrots  dug  from  the  earth  by  their  hands;  drunk  from 
muddy  pools,  always  with  those  beings  behind  them  who 
had  driven  them  at  the  point  of  their  bayonets  from  their 
poor  homes.  Looking  back,  they  had  seen  flames  against 
the  sky,  heard  screams  for  pity  from  those  too  ill  to  leave, 
silenced  by  bullets. 

Here  are  some  of  the  tales,  which  our  Mayor  vouches  for, 
which  I  heard:  — 

One  young  mother,  who  had  seen  her  husband  shot,  tried 
to  put  aside  the  rifle  of  the  assassin.  She  was  holding  her 
year-old  baby  on  her  breast.  The  butt  of  that  rifle  was 
beaten  down,  crushing  in  her  baby's  chest.  It  still  lives,  and 
I  heard  its  gasping  breath. 

Another  young  girl  in  remnants  of  a  pretty  silk  dress, 
hatless,  her  fragile  shoes  soleless,  and  her  feet  bleeding,  is 

204 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

quite  mad  from  the  horrors  of  seeing  her  old  father  shot  and 
her  two  younger  brothers  taken  away  to  go  before  the 
advancing  enemy,  as  shields  against  English  bullets.  She 
has  forgotten  her  name,  town,  and  kin,  and,  "like  a  leaf  in 
the  storm,"  is  adrift  on  the  world  penniless. 

I  saw  sitting  in  a  row  on  a  bench  in  the  shed  seven  little 
girls,  none  of  them  more  than  six.  Not  one  of  them  has  now 
father,  mother,  or  home.  None  can  tell  whence  they  came, 
or  to  whom  they  belong.  Three  are  plainly  of  gentle  birth. 
They  were  with  nurses  when  the  horde  of  Prussians  fell 
upon  them,  and  the  latter  were  kept  —  for  the  soldiers' 
pleasure. 

There  is  an  old  man,  formerly  the  proud  proprietor  of  a 
bakery,  who  escaped  with  the  tiny  delivery  cart  pulled  by  a 
Belgian  dog.  Within  the  cart  are  the  remains  of  his  prosper- 
ous past  —  a  coat,  photos  of  his  dead  wife,  and  his  three  sons 
at  the  front,  and  a  brass  kettle. 

I  heard  from  an  aged  man  how  he  escaped  death.  He, 
with  other  villagers,  was  locked  into  a  room,  and  from  with- 
out the  German  carbines  were  thrust  through  the  blinds. 
Those  within  were  told  to  "dance  for  their  lives,"  and  the 
German  bullets  picked  them  off,  one  by  one,  from  the  street. 
He  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  fall  as  though  dead,  and  when 
the  house  was  set  on  fire  crawled  out  through  a  window  into 
the  cowshed  and  got  away. 

Now,  these  stories  are  not  the  worst  or  the  only  ones.  Nor 
are  these  three  hundred  refugees  more  than  a  drop  of  sand 
on  a  beach  of  the  thousands  upon*thousands  who  are  at  this 
moment  in  like  case.  They  are  pouring  through  the  country 
now,  dazed  with  trouble,  robbed  of  all  they  possess. 

Who  can  help  them,  even  to  work?  No  one  has  money. 
Even  those  rich  villa  people,  Americans,  are  unable  to  pay 
their  servants.  There  is  no  "  work"  save  in  the  fields  garner- 
ing crops,  for  which  no  wages  are  paid.  Their  country  is  a 
devastated  waste,  tenanted  by  the  enemy,  who  spread  like  a 
tidal  wave  of  destruction  in  all  directions.  We  take  the 
better  class  into  our  homes,  clothe  them  and  feed  them 
gladly,  that  we  may  in  a  minute  way  repay  the  debt  civiliza- 
tion owes  their  husbands,  sons,  and  fathers.  France,  too,  is 

205 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

invaded,  and  now  thousands  more  of  French  are  homeless 
and  penniless. 

We  in  this  formerly  gay,  fashionable  little  town  see  no- 
thing of  the  pageantry  of  war  —  only  its  horrors,  as  trains 
leave  with  us  hundreds  of  wounded  from  the  front.  In  their 
bodies  we  find  dumdum  bullets,  and  we  hear  tales  which 
confirm  those  of  the  refugees. 

Will  America  help  them?  I,  an  American  woman,  could 
weep  for  the  inadequacy  of  my  pen,  for  I  beg  your  pity,  your 
compassion,  and  your  help.  Not  since  the  days  of  Rome's 
cruelty  has  civilization  been  so  outraged. 

I  beg  your  paper  to  print  this,  and  to  start  a  subscription 
for  this  far  corner  of  France,  where  the  tide  of  war  throws 
its  wreckage.  The  winter  is  ahead,  and  with  hunger,  cold, 
lack  of  supplies,  and  isolation  will  create  untold  suffering. 
Paris,  too,  is  now  sending  refugees  from  its  besieged  gates. 
Every  corner  is  already  filled,  and  hundreds  pour  in  every 
day.  The  garages,  best  hotels,  villas,  and  cafes  are  already 
filled  with  "those  that  suffer  for  honor's  sake."  The  Croix 
Rouge  does  splendid  work  for  the  wounded  soldiers,  but  who 
will  help  these  victims  of  war?  Fifty  cents  will  buy  shoes  for 
a  baby's  feet.  Ten  cents  will  buy  ten  pieces  of  bread.  A  dol- 
lar will  buy  a  widow  a  shawl.  Who  will  give?  Deny  your- 
selves some  little  pleasure  — •  a  cigar,  a  drink  of  soda  water, 
a  theater  seat  —  and  send  the  price  to  these  starved,  beaten 
people,  innocent  of  any  crime. 

You  American  women,  who  tuck  your  children  into  their 
clean  beds  at  night,  remember  these  children,  reared  as 
carefully  as  yours,  without  relatives,  money,  or  future.  They 
will  be  placed  on  farms  to  do  a  peasant's  work  with  peasants. 
These  women  bereft  of  all  that  was  dear  face  a  barren  future. 
These  aged  men  anticipate  for  their  only  remaining  blessing 
death,  which  will  take  them  from  a  world  which  has  used 
them  ill. 

America  is  neutral.  Let  her  remain  so,  but  compassion  has 
no  nationality.  We  are  all  children  of  one  Father.  Send  us 
help.  These  poor  creatures  hold  out  to  you  pleading  hands 
for  succor. 


206 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

II.  Germany's  Defense 

I  print  herewith  denials  from  high  sources  in  Ger- 
many of  the  charges  made  as  to  Belgian  atrocities. 
These  statements  express  the  universal  belief  in 
Germany. 

A  writer  in  the  "Nineteenth  Century"  says: — ■ 

And  quite  apart  from  the  question  whether  these  stories 
are  true,  they  constitute  still  to-day,  as  a  matter  of  undeni- 
able psychological  fact,  the  most  tremendous  barrier  be- 
tween the  two  peoples  —  a  barrier  of  moral  disgust  on  the 
one  side  and  indignant  denial  on  the  other.  We  English 
should  do  well  to  remember  one  thing.  The  indignant  denial, 
wherever  it  is  sincere,  —  and  it  is  unquestionably  sincere  in 
large  circles  of  educated  German  opinion,  —  proves  this 
much,  that  those  circles  are  not  divided  from  us  by  a  differ- 
ence of  moral  code. 

As  far  as  I  know,  no  Germans  believe  that  their 
soldiers,  except  possibly  in  isolated  cases,  transgressed 
the  rules  of  war,  and  all  Germans  believe  that  the 
people  of  Belgium  grossly  violated  the  Hague  Conven- 
tions. 

Statement  as  to  Louvain  by  Dr.  Zimmermann,  until  recently 
Permanent  Under-Secretary  of  State,  and  now  Germany's 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

The  City  of  Louvain  had  been  handed  over  by  the 
authorities,  and  on  Monday,  24th  August,  we  began  to  dis- 
entrain  troops.  Billeting  and  intercourse  with  the  inhabit- 
ants were  proceeding  in  a  friendly  way.  On  Tuesday,  25th 
August,  in  the  afternoon,  troops  left  in  the  direction  of 
Antwerp  on  the  receipt  of  news  that  an  attack  was  impend- 
ing. The  General  Commanding  left  in  a  motor-car  at  their 
head,  and  in  Louvain  there  only  remained  troops  to  guard 
the  station,  supply  columns  and  the  territorial  battalion  of 
the  guard  "Neuss."    When  the  Second  Mounted  Division 

207 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

was  preparing  to  follow  the  Commanding  Officer,  and  was 
beginning  to  form  in  the  market-place,  it  was  received  with 
revolver  shots  from  the  inside  of  the  neighboring  houses. 

All  the  horses  were  killed  and  five  officers  were  wounded, 
one  of  them  seriously.  At  the  same  time  fire  was  opened  in 
ten  other  distinct  parts  of  the  city  and  also  on  the  troops 
which  at  that  moment  were  arriving  by  train  and  were  pre- 
paring to  detrain.  All  this  was  systematically  done  and  car- 
ried out  as  part  of  the  plan  of  the  attack  which  was  expected 
from  the  side  of  Antwerp. 

Two  clergymen  were  found  handing  out  cartridges,  and 
these  were  immediately  shot  in  the  station  square.  The 
fighting  in  the  streets  lasted  till  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday, 
26th  August,  and  was  only  put  down  when  a  superior  num- 
ber of  troops  arrived.  The  town  and  the  northern  suburbs 
were  in  flames  in  various  places,  and  probably  have  now  been 
reduced  to  ashes.  The  Belgian  Government  had,  sometime 
before,  organized  a  general  levee  against  the  enemy  when 
they  crossed  the  frontier,  and  for  this  purpose  magazines  of 
arms  were  established  and  every  rifle  bore  the  name  of  the 
citizen  who  was  to  use  it. 

Spontaneous  levees  of  a  nation  were  recognized  by  the 
Hague  Conference  at  the  request  of  small  States,  so  long  as 
arms  are  carried,  and  the  laws  of  war  observed,  but  they  are 
only  admissible  in  order  to  fight  against  an  approaching 
enemy.  In  the  case  of  Louvain,  the  town  had  capitulated 
and  the  population  had,  therefore,  renounced  all  resistance 
and  the  place  was  already  occupied  by  our  troops. 

In  spite  of  this,  the  population  attacked  the  troops  of 
occupation  and  those  that  were  arriving  by  train  and  in 
motor-cars,  trusting  to  the  peaceful  behavior  which  had 
been  shown  hitherto,  and  met  them  with  a  deadly  fire.  It 
was,  therefore,  a  question  not  of  legitimate  defense  or  of 
war  tactics,  but  of  a  cowardly  attack  on  the  part  of  civilians; 
an  attack  which  was  all  the  more  to  be  condemned,  since  it 
had  been  clearly  thought  out  beforehand  in  conjunction 
with  a  plan  of  a  sortie  from  Antwerp.  The  inhabitants  did 
not  carry  arms  openly.  Women  and  girls  took  part  in  the 
fight  and  gouged  out  the  eyes  of  the  wounded. 

208 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

The  barbarous  behavior  of  the  Belgian  populace  in  nearly 
all  the  districts  occupied  by  us,  not  only  gave  us  the  right, 
but  forced  us,  in  our  own  defense,  to  have  recourse  to  most 
severe  measures.  The  intensity  of  the  fight  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  more  than  twenty-four  hours  were  needed  to 
suppress  the  attack.  That  the  town  of  Louvain  has,  to 
a  great  extent,  been  destroyed  is  a  matter  of  deep  concern 
to  us,  but  we  had  no  intention  to  bring  this  about,  and  it 
could  not  be  avoided  in  chastising  the  infamous  attack  made 
against  our  troops  by  a  shameful  guerrilla  warfare. 

He  who  knows  the  kindness  of  our  troops  will  not  be  able 
conscientiously  to  state  that  they  are  inclined  to  wanton 
and  useless  destruction. 

The  responsibility  for  lawless  and  unjust  procedure  falls 
upon  the  Belgian  Government,  who,  by  arbitrarily  infring- 
ing the  law  of  nations,  induced  the  people  to  act  criminally 
in  spite  of  repeated  warnings  given  after  the  fall  of  Liege  to 
prevent  a  repetition  of  these  cowardly  attacks  and  in  spite  of 
invitations  to  the  people  to  observe  a  peaceful  attitude. 

(Signed)  Zimmermann. 


An  appeal  to  the  civilized  world 
By  ninety-three  professors  of  Germany 

As  representatives  of  German  science  and  art,  we  hereby 
protest  to  the  civilized  world  against  the  lies  and  calumnies 
with  which  our  enemies  are  endeavoring  to  stain  the  honor 
of  Germany  in  her  hard  struggle  for  existence  —  in  a  strug- 
gle which  has  been  forced  upon  her. 

The  iron  mouth  of  events  has  proved  the  untruth  of  the 
fictitious  German  defeats,  consequently  misrepresentation 
and  calumny  are  all  the  more  eagerly  at  work.  As  heralds 
of  truth  we  raise  our  voices  against  these. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  life  and  property  of  a  single  Belgian 
citizen  was  injured  by  our  soldiers  without  the  bitterest  self- 
defense  having  made  it  necessary;  for  again  and  again,  not- 
withstanding repeated  threats,  the  citizens  lay  in  ambush, 
shooting  at  the  troops  out  of  the  houses,  mutilating  the 

209 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

wounded,  and  murdering  in  cold  blood  the  medical  men 
while  they  were  doing  their  Samaritan  work.  There  can  be 
no  baser  abuse  than  the  suppression  of  these  crimes  with  the 
view  of  letting  the  Germans  appear  to  be  criminals,  only  for 
having  justly  punished  these  assassins  for  their  wicked 
deeds. 

It  is  not  true  that  our  troops  treated  Louvain  brutally. 
Furious  inhabitants  having  treacherously  fallen  upon  them 
in  their  quarters,  our  troops  with  aching  hearts  were  obliged 
to  fire  a  part  of  the  town  as  a  punishment.  The  greatest  part 
of  Louvain  has  been  preserved.  The  famous  Town  Hall 
stands  quite  intact;  for  at  great  self-sacrifice  our  soldiers 
saved  it  from  destruction  by  the  flames.  Every  German 
would  of  course  greatly  regret  if  in  the  course  of  this  terrible 
war  any  works  of  art  should  already  have  been  destroyed  or 
be  destroyed  at  some  future  time,  but  inasmuch  as  in  our 
great  love  for  art  we  cannot  be  surpassed  by  any  other 
nation,  in  the  same  degree  we  must  decidedly  refuse  to  buy 
a  German  defeat  at  the  cost  of  saving  a  work  of  art. 

It  is  not  true  that  our  warfare  pays  no  respect  to  interna- 
tional laws.  It  knows  no  undisciplined  cruelty.  But  in  the 
east  the  earth  is  saturated  with  the  blood  of  women  and 
children  unmercifully  butchered  by  the  wild  Russian  troops, 
and  in  the  west  dum-dum  bullets  mutilate  the  breasts  of  our 
soldiers.  Those  who  have  allied  themselves  with  Russians 
and  Servians,  and  present  such  a  shameful  scene  to  the 
world  as  that  of  inciting  Mongolians  and  Negroes  against 
the  white  race,  have  no  right  whatever  to  call  themselves 
upholders  of  civilization. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  combat  against  our  so-called  militar- 
ism is  not  a  combat  against  our  civilization,  as  our  enemies 
hypocritically  pretend  it  is.  Were  it  not  for  German  militar- 
ism, German  civilization  would  long  since  have  been  extir- 
pated. For  its  protection  it  arose  in  a  land  which  for  centu- 
ries had  been  plagued  by  bands  of  robbers  as  no  other  land 
had  been.  The  German  army  and  the  German  people  are 
one,  and  to-day  this  consciousness  fraternizes  seventy 
millions  of  Germans,  all  ranks,  positions,  and  parties  being 
one. 

210 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  BELGIUM 

We  cannot  wrest  the  poisonous  weapon  —  the  lie  —  out 
of  the  hands  of  our  enemies.  All  we  can  do  is  to  proclaim  to 
all  the  world  that  our  enemies  are  giving  false  witness  against 
us.  You,  who  know  us,  who  with  us  have  protected  the  most 
holy  possessions  of  man,  we  call  to  you : 

Have  faith  in  us !  Believe  that  we  shall  carry  on  this  war 
to  the  end  as  a  civilized  nation,  to  whom  the  legacy  of  a 
Goethe,  a  Beethoven,  and  a  Kant  is  just  as  sacred  as  its  own 
hearths  and  homes. 

For  this  we  pledge  you  our  names  and  our  honor. 

This  document  bears  the  signatures,  alphabetically 
arranged,  of  ninety-three  Germans,  among  whom  are 
to  be  found  the  following:  The  historians  Lamprecht 
and  Harnack:  the  jurists  Laband,  Liszt,  and  Von 
Mayr;  the  philosophers  Eucken,  Riehl,  Windelband, 
and  Wundt;  the  physician  Roentgen;  the  chemists 
Ehrlich,  Fischer,  and  Ostwald;  the  zoologist  Haeckel; 
the  astronomer  W.  Foester;  the  economists  Brentano 
and  Schmoller;  the  philologist  Willamowitz-Moellen- 
dorf;  the  publicist  Naumann;  the  art  historian 
W.  Bode;  the  painters  Kaulbach,  Klinger,  Liebermann, 
Stuck,  and  Triibner;  the  writers  L.  Fulda,  G.  Haupt- 
mann,  R.  Dehmel,  Halbe,  and  Sudermann;  the  musi- 
cians Humperdinck,  Siegfried  Wagner,  and  Felix 
Weingartner;  finally,  the  president  of  the  Reichstag, 
Arthur  Kampf,  and  the  theatrical  director,  Max 
Reinhardt. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ALLEGED  ATROCITIES   ON   THE  GERMAN  TROOPS  BY 
CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

I.  The  German  Allegations 

When,  last  January,  I  visited  the  family  of  Professor 
Rudolph  Eucken  in  Jena,  his  daughter  told  me  of  the 
terrible  atrocities  perpetrated  by  the  Belgians,  includ- 
ing women  and  girls,  on  the  wounded  German  soldiers. 
She  expressed  the  universal  belief  in  Germany.  After- 
wards I  got  a  copy  of  the  Official  German  White  Book, 
entitled  in  English  "The  Belgian  People's  War,  A 
Violation  of  International  Law."  This  book  contains 
135  pages.  It  deals  fully  with  Aerschot,  Andenne, 
Dinant,  Louvain,  and  other  places. 

I  publish  herewith  extracts  from  the  German  White 
Book: — 

The  Belgian  People's  War 
Memorial 

Immediately  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  Belgium  a 
savage  fight  was  started  by  the  Belgian  civilians  against  the 
German  troops,  a  fight  which  was  a  flagrant  violation  of 
international  law  and  had  the  gravest  consequences  for 
Belgium  and  her  people. 

That  fight  of  a  population  which  was  governed  by  savage 
passion  raged  throughout  Belgium  during  the  whole  advance 
of  the  German  army.  .  .  . 

According  to  this  evidence  the  Belgian  civilian  population 
has  fought  against  the  German  troops  at  many  places  in  the 
provinces  of  Liege,  Luxemburg,  Namur,  Hainault,  Brabant, 

212 


ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

East  and  West  Flanders.  The  fights  at  Aerschot,  Andenne, 
Dinant,  and  Louvain  assumed  a  particularly  terrible  char- 
acter. About  these,  special  reports  have  been  drawn  up  by 
the  Military  Bureau  for  the  Investigation  of  Offenses  against 
the  Laws  of  War  established  in  the  army  department.  In 
these  fights  men  of  the  most  varied  classes,  workmen,  manu- 
facturers, doctors,  teachers,  even  clergymen,  nay,  women 
and  children,  were  caught  with  arms  in  hand.  In  districts 
from  which  the  regular  Belgian  troops  had  long  withdrawn, 
shots  were  fired  on  the  German  troops  from  houses  and 
gardens,  roofs  and  cellars,  fields  and  woods.  In  those  fights 
means  were  used  which  no  regular  troops  would  have  em- 
ployed. Thus,  large  quantities  of  sporting  rifles  and  ammu- 
nition, obsolete  pistols  and  revolvers  were  found,  and  num- 
erous in  consequence  were  the  wounds  by  small  shot,  and 
also  by  burning  with  hot  tar  and  boiling  water.  From  all 
this  it  is  evident  that  the  war  of  the  people  in  Belgium  was 
not  only  waged  by  individual  civilians,  but  by  large  masses 
of  the  population. 

But  what  the  Belgian  civilians  are  especially  to  be  charged 
with  is  the  unheard-of  violation  of  the  customs  of  war.  In 
different  places,  e.g.,  near  Liege,  Herve,  and  Brussels,  in 
Aerschot,  Dinant,  and  Louvain,  German  soldiers  have  been 
foully  assassinated;  although  Article  23,  section  lb,  of  the 
Hague  Regulations  of  Warfare  on  Land,  forbids  to  "kill  or 
wound  treacherously  individuals  belonging  to  the  hostile 
nation  or  army."  Moreover,  the  Belgian  population  has 
disregarded  the  sign  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  thus  offended 
against  Article  9  of  the  Geneva  Convention  of  July  6,  1906. 
Thus,  Belgian  civilians  did  not  shrink  from  shooting  under 
cover  of  this  sign  at  the  German  troops  and  from  attacking 
hospitals  with  wounded  soldiers  and  the  sanitary  staff  while 
in  the  execution  of  their  duty.  Finally,  it  has  been  estab- 
lished beyond  doubt  that  Belgian  civilians  plundered,  killed, 
and  even  shockingly  mutilated  German  wounded  soldiers, 
in  which  atrocities  even  women  and  children  took  part. 
Thus,  the  eyes  were  gouged  out  of  the  German  wounded 
soldiers,  their  ears,  noses,  finger-joints  were  cut  off,  or  they 
were  emasculated  or  disemboweled.  In  other  cases,  German 

213 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

soldiers  were  poisoned  or  strung  up  on  trees;  hot  liquid  was 
poured  over  them,  or  they  were  otherwise  burned  so  that 
they  died  under  terrible  tortures.  All  these  bestialities  of 
the  Belgian  population  are  an  outrage,  not  only  to  the 
express  obligation  "to  respect  and  care"  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  of  the  enemy  (Article  1,  Section  1,  of  the  Geneva 
Convention),  but  also  to  the  primary  principles  of  the  laws 
of  war  and  humanity.  .  .  . 

Old  men,  women,  and  children,  even  when  under  grave 
suspicion,  were  spared  to  the  largest  possible  degree;  more 
than  that:  the  German  soldiers,  although  their  patience  was 
put  to  a  most  severe  test  by  the  treacherous  attacks,  often 
cared  for  such  persons  in  a  manner  which  can  only  be  termed 
as  self-sacrificing,  taking  helpless  persons  who  were  in  peril 
under  their  protection,  sharing  their  bread  with  them  or 
giving  the  weak  and  sick  in  charge. 

The  Belgian  Government  has  tried  to  evade  this  responsi- 
bility by  putting  the  blame  for  the  things  that  happened  on 
the  German  troops  whose  lust  of  destruction  is  said  to  have 
made  them  commit  violence  without  any  provocation.  The 
Belgian  Government  has  appointed  a  commission  for  the 
investigation  of  the  atrocities  alleged  to  have  been  com- 
mitted by  the  German  troops  and  it  has  made  the  findings 
of  this  commission  a  matter  of  diplomatic  protests.  This 
attempt  to  pervert  the  facts  into  their  reverse  has  failed 
entirely.  The  German  army  is  accustomed  to  warfare  only 
against  hostile  armies  but  not  against  peaceful  inhabitants. 
That  from  the  beginning  of  their  entry  into  Belgium  the 
German  troops  were  forced  by  the  native  population  into  a 
defensive  fight  in  the  interest  of  self-preservation,  this  irre- 
futable fact  cannot  be  put  out  of  the  world  by  any  investiga- 
tion of  whatever  commission. 

The  tales  of  refugees  compiled  by  the  Belgian  Commis- 
sion, which  are  represented  as  the  result  of  strictly  impartial 
investigations,  bear  the  stamp  of  untrustworthiness,  if  not  of 
malicious  distortion,  on  their  face.  Considering  the  circum- 
stances, the  Commission  cannot  possibly  test  the  correctness 
of  rumors  reported  to  them,  or  see  the  interrelation  of  the 
various  happenings.  Hence  their  accusations  of  the  German 

214 


'  ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

army  are  nothing  else  but  base  defamations  which  are  easily 
disproved  by  the  documentary  evidence  appended. 

Military  Court  Examination  of  Reservists  Gustav  Voigt,  Fritz 
Marks  and  Henry  Hartmann,  of  Infantry  Regiment 
No.  165 

(1)  Reservist  Gustav  Voigt :  — 

My  name  is  Gustav  Voigt;  my  age  twenty-four.  I  am  a 
Lutheran  and  a  Reservist  of  Company  6  of  Infantry  Regi- 
ment No.  165. 

In  the  morning  o"  August  7,  I  and  seven  other  comrades 
became  detached  from  our  troop.  We  had  to  sneak  through 
the  gardens  of  a  village  closely  beyond  Herve  in  Belgium  to 
look  for  cover.  Suddenly  we  saw  how  five  Belgian  soldiers 
threw  up  their  hands  and  wished  to  surrender.  They  hailed 
us  and  we  approached  them  and  noticed  that  they  had  two 
Germans  with  them  (of  the  Tenth  Hussars)  bound  with 
ropes.  One  of  the  latter  drew  our  attention  to  a  third 
Hussar  hanging  up  in  a  tree,  dead.  We  saw  that  his  ears  and 
nose  were  cut  off.  The  Hussars  also  told  us  that  the  five 
Belgians  had  just  been  getting  ready  to  kill  or  mutilate 
them,  if  we  had  not  come  up.  We  disarmed  the  Belgians, 
took  them  prisoners,  and  delivered  them  to  a  troop  of  the 
Fifth  Uhlans  who  had  already  several  captured  Belgians 
with  them.  We  joined  the  Uhlans  to  get  back  to  our  com- 
pany, and,  while  passing  through  the  village,  were  fired  at 
from  cellars  and  windows.  I  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 
village,  but  it  is  situated  between  Herve  and  a  big  coal  mine 
in  the  direction  towards  Liege.  I  myself  was  wounded  in  the 
street  fighting  at  Liege. 

On  the  day  previous  to  that  incident  our  company  was 
engaged  in  a  skirmish  of  outposts  to  the  right  of  Herve;  at 
that  time  a  one-year  private  of  Company  5  of  Infantry 
Regiment  No.  165  was  wounded  and  left  where  he  fell.  When 
we  passed  the  spot  the  next  morning  we  found  body  of  that 
private  at  a  garden  fence;  both  his  eyes  had  been  gouged  out. 
Every  one  of  us  was  convinced  that  villagers  had  done  this. 

On  or  about  August  7,  when  we  marched  on  Liege  we  saw 

215 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

a  German  infantryman  —  I  think  of  Regiment  No.  27;  he 
showed  no  shot  wound,  but  was  dead,  having  been  com- 
pletely emasculated. 
Read,  approved,  signed. 

(Signed)  Gustav  Voiqt. 


(2)  Reservist  Fritz  Marks:  — 

My  name  is  Fritz  Marks;  my  age  twenty-three,  I  am  a 
Protestant,  by  trade  a  factory-hand;  and  a  Reservist  of 
Company  2  of  Infantry  Regiment  No.  165. 

On  August  25  our  battalion  marched  through  a  village 
near  Herve  in  Belgium.  A  man  of  the  5th  company  met  us 
and  exclaimed:  "Such  a  dirty  trick,  now  they  have  gouged 
out  the  eyes  of  one  of  our  men."  He  pointed  out  where  the 
man  lay.  We  all  had  to  pass  the  spot  and  there  saw  the  dead 
man  lie  by  the  fence  with  both  eyes  gouged  out.  We  were 
certain  that  villagers  had  done  this.  When  on  the  next  day 
we  again  passed  through  the  village  we  were  shot  at  from 
cellars  and  windows,  and  orders  were  given  to  disarm  and 
arrest  the  villagers.  We  entered  the  houses  and  executed  the 
order.  But  when  the  shooting  continued  all  the  same,  six 
guilty  Belgian  peasants  were  executed  by  order  of  an  officer. 

Read,  approved,  signed. 

(Signed)  Fritz  Marks. 

(3)  Reservist  Heinrich  Hartmann:  — 

My  name  is  Friedrich  Heinrich  Hartmann;  my  age  twenty- 
four.  I  am  a  Protestant;  Reservist  of  Company  2  of  Infantry 
Regiment  No.  165. 

I,  too,  saw  the  private  of  Company  5  with  his  eyes  gouged 
out.  The  officer  in  charge  of  our  company,  Captain  Burk- 
holz,  ordered  us  to  search  the  houses  of  the  village.  In  the 
house  by  the  fence  of  which  the  body  of  the  private  had  been 
found,  we  discovered  a  big  strong  middle-aged  man  who  lay 
in  bed  and  feigned  sleep.  We  arrested  him  and  led  him  before 
the  officers  who  examined  the  man.  He  was  then  upon  order 
shot  by  a  musketeer  of  Company  4. 

216 


ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN   BELGIUM 

While  we  marched  on  Liege  we  passed  a  German  infantry- 
man who  had  been  submerged,  head  down,  in  a  bog  and  was 
dead. 

Read,  approved,  signed. 

(Signed)  Heinmch  Hartmann. 

Court  Examination  of  Musketeer  Paul  Blankenburg  of 
Infantry  Regiment  No.  165 

Paul  Blankenburg,  musketeer  of  Company  7  of  Infantry 
Regiment  No.  165,  at  present  under  treatment  at  the  reserve 
hospital  of  this  city,  appeared  and,  having  been  instructed 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  oath,  deposed  as  follows:  — 

My  name  is  Paul  Blankenburg.  I  am  a  native  of  Magde- 
burg, twenty -one  years  old;  a  Lutheran. 

The  following  statement  is  read  to  witness  which  he  made 
in  the  presence  of  Lieutenant  Reyner  on  October  31 :  — 

Marching  in  closed  column  we  passed  through  a 
Belgian  village  situated  west  of  Herve.  There  were 
German  wounded  lying  about  in  the  village,  amongst 
whom  I  recognized  men  of  the  4th  Battalion  of  Chas- 
seurs. Suddenly  our  marching  columns  were  fired  at 
from  the  houses,  and  orders  were  given,  therefore,  to 
remove  all  civilians  from  these  houses  and  gather  them 
in  one  place.  While  this  was  being  done  1  noticed 
that  girls,  about  eight  or  ten  years  old,  armed  with  a 
sharp  instrument,  busied  themselves  with  the  German 
wounded.  Later  I  ascertained  that  the  ear  lobes  and 
upper  part  of  the  ears  of  those  of  the  wounded  who  were 
gravely  injured  had  been  cut  off.  As  we  proceeded  an 
orderly  of  the  sanitary  corps  —  if  I  remember  right  of 
the  27th  Regiment  —  was  shot  to  death  by  Belgian 
civilians  firing  from  the  schoolhouse  while  he  was  en- 
gaged in  aiding  a  wounded  soldier  in  the  school  yard. 

Witness  thereupon  declared :  — 

The  statement  just  read  to  me  is  true  and  correct.  I 
emphasize  once  more  that  I  myself  saw  how  girls  aged 

217 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

eight  or  ten  busied  themselves  with  the  severely  wounded 
in  the  Belgian  village.  The  girls  had  steel  instruments  in 
their  hands  —  but  these  were  not  knives  or  scissors  —  and 
with  these  instruments,  which  had  a  sharp  edge  on  one  side, 
and  which  we  took  from  them,  they  busied  themselves  with 
the  wounded.  There  were  fresh  wounds  on  the  ears  of  the 
wounded  soldiers,  their  ear-lobes  and  upper  parts  of  the 
ears  having  been  cut  off  evidently  only  just  before  we 
came. 

One  of  the  wounded,  in  reply  to  my  questions,  told  me 
that  he  had  been  mutilated  in  the  above-described  manner 
by  the  girls. 

Read,  approved,  signed. 

(Signed)  Paul  Blankenburg. 

Military  Court  Examination  of  Sergeant  Major  Weinrich  of 
Infantry  Regiment  No.  20 

Sergeant  Major  Weinrich  of  the  Machine  Gun  Com- 
pany of  Infantry  Regiment  No.  20  appeared,  and,  after 
being  instructed  about  the  meaning  of  the  oath,  declared 
the  following:  — 

My  name  is  Adolf  Weinrich.  I  am  thirty-two  years  of 
age;  a  Protestant. 

On  a  day  during  the  middle  of  August  of  this  year, 
while  the  company  was  engaged  in  fighting  the  enemy,  I 
was  following  in  the  rear  with  the  wagons.  At  the  entrance 
of  Neer-Linter,  I  saw  a  German  Hussar  lying  near  a  house; 
he  was  covered  with  a  bag.  I  alighted  from  my  horse, 
raised  the  bag,  and  observed  that  the  Hussar  was  dead. 
His  face  was  covered  with  blood,  and  his  eyes  had  been 
pierced;  both  eye  apples  had  been  completely  cut  out  and 
could  not  be  found  near  by.  His  uniform  was  torn  open, 
the  chest  was  bare,  and  showed  about  twenty  stabs.  His 
hands  were  tied  together  on  his  back.  I  then  covered  the 
corpse  again  with  the  bag. 

Read,  approved,  signed. 

(Signed)  Adolf  Weinrich. 

218 


ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

What  German  children  are  taught  regarding  tfie  invasion 

of  Belgium 

The  "Times  Current  History"  for  November,  1916, 
publishes  some  extracts  from  a  German  book  for  boys 
by  Ernst  Niederhausen,  entitled  "Welt  Krieg":  — 

Ceaselessly  marched  the  masses  of  the  German  army 
entering  Belgium,  regiment  upon  regiment.  For  these  potent 
masses  of  troops  were  followed  by  supporting  troops.  ...  If 
troops  left  their  posts,  others  instantly  took  their  places. 
The  land  of  Germany  seemed  to  the  Belgians  to  be  inex- 
haustible in  defenders. 

At  the  sight  of  these  beneficent  forces,  the  hate  of  the 
malignant  Belgians  grew.  In  the  shadows  of  the  night,  sin- 
ister ambushes  were  prepared.  Hidden  behind  trees,  or  in 
the  ditches,  the  Belgians  fired  on  German  troops.  They  even 
slew  the  weary  soldiers  who  sought  rest  in  the  huts  of  the 
peasants,  while  these  soldiers  slept.  Brigandage  was  rife. 
Often,  the  leading  people  of  the  country  organized  and 
directed  these  ambuscades.  It  was  not  at  all  a  question  of 
single  acts,  committed  under  the  impulse  of  anger,  but 
rather  the  execution  of  a  plan  carefully  prepared  before- 
hand. Breaches  were  made  in  roofs,  openings  made  in  walls, 
loopholes  were  contrived  for  the  treacherous  muzzles  of 
rifles;  houses  were  joined  by  tunnels,  so  that  their  defenders 
could  flee  from  one  to  the  other.  Savage  fusillades  were  fired 
in  the  darkness.  Houses  had  to  be  taken  one  by  one.  The 
German  wounded  were  frightfully  mutilated  and  put  to 
death:  Every  feeling  of  humanity  seemed  to  have  deserted 
the  miserable  Belgian  people  (alles  Menschentum  schien  von 
diesem  elenden  Belgischen  Volke  gewichen  zu  sein).  .  .  . 

On  August  25,  the  German  troops  entering  Lou  vain  were 
received  in  the  friendliest  possible  way  by  the  inhabitants. 
The  townsfolk  vied  with  one  another  in  lodging  the  officers 
in  the  most  comfortable  manner  possible. 

The  evening  descended.  Nine  o'clock  sounded  from  the 
city  belfries.  As  by  a  single  stroke,  the  windows  opened. 
The  flashes  of  a  fusillade  blazed  forth. 

219 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

All  the  townsfolk,  favored  by  the  shades  of  night,  began  a 
combat  prepared  in  advance,  following  a  plan  (einen  plan- 
maessig  vorbereiteten  Kampf),  against  what  was  left  of  the 
German  garrison. 

It  was  now  clearly  to  be  seen  why  they  had  wished  to 
isolate  the  officers,  by  finding  separate  lodgings  for  them. 

Daggers  and  pistols  were  ready,  to  rob  the  troops  of  their 
leaders.   But  matters  fell  out  far  otherwise.  .  .  . 

The  abominable  plan  had  failed.  The  City  of  Louvain 
was  burning.  All  the  streets  that  the  dogs  of  Belgians 
(canaille)  lived  in  were  in  flames.  Whoever  was  taken  with 
arms  in  his  hands  was  shot. 

The  sky  was  red  as  blood;  Heaven  announced  to  the  world 
how  the  brave  German  soldiers,  who  were  fighting  in  a  hos- 
tile land  for  their  country,  suddenly  attacked,  met  the  im- 
potent race  of  cowardly  assassins  and  defended  themselves 
in  a  struggle  by  night  against  the  savage  onslaught  of  mur- 
derers. .  .  . 

Everywhere  in  Germany  I  found  that  the  people, 
from  the  most  highly  placed  to  those  in  the  common 
walks  of  life,  believed  absolutely  this  report  of  the 
Government,  and  utterly  disbelieved  the  various  re- 
ports as  to  atrocities  by  the  German  soldiers  on  the 
Belgian  civilians. 

The  "  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung"  publishes 
(September  19, 1914),  the  following  telegram  addressed 
by  the  Emperor  to  President  Wilson  of  the  United 
States :  — 

The  Belgian  Government  has  openly  encouraged  the  civil 
population  to  take  part  in  this  war,  which  it  had  carefully 
for  a  long  time  prepared.  The  cruelties  inflicted,  in  the 
course  of  this  guerrilla  war,  by  women  and  even  by  priests, 
upon  wounded  soldiers,  doctors,  and  hospital  nurses  (doctors 
have  been  killed  and  hospitals  fired  on)  have  been  such  that 
my  generals  have  finally  found  themselves  obliged  to  resort 
to  the  most  rigorous  means  to  chastise  the  guilty  and  to 

220 


ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

prevent  the  bloodthirsty  population  from  continuing  these 
abominable,  criminal,  and  hateful  acts.  Many  villages,  and 
even  the  city  of  Louvain,  have  had  to  be  demolished  (except 
the  very  beautiful  Hotel  de  Ville)  in  the  interest  of  our 
defense  and  the  protection  of  our  troops.  My  heart  bleeds 
when  I  see  that  such  measures  have  been  rendered  inevit- 
able, and  when  I  think  of  the  innumerable  innocent  persons 
who  have  lost  their  homes  and  their  belongings  as  a  result 
of  the  deeds  of  the  criminals  in  question. 

Wilhelm  I.R. 
The  German  Military  Government.1 

II.  Belgium's  Defense 

The  extracts  I  print  herewith  from  the  letters  of  the 
Bishops  of  Belgium  to  the  Bishops  of  Germany,  Bava- 
ria and  Austria-Hungary  are  difficult  to  read  unmoved. 

It  is  a  very  pathetic  and  heart-breaking  appeal  to 
Germany.  If  there  is  any  sense  of  mercy  and  pity  and 
justice  left  in  the  people  of  the  neutral  countries,  they 
will  surely  demand  that  a  neutral  investigation  be 
made  by  a  tribunal  so  competent  and  so  worthy  of 
confidence  that  the  truth  may  be  established  in  the 
sight  of  all  men.  The  Catholic  Church  is  on  trial,  as 
never  before  in  its  history.  If  the  Catholic  Church  with- 
holds itself  and  closes  its  ears  to  the  most  pathetic  and 
moving  plea  ever  made,  and  made  by  one  great  body 
of  Catholic  Bishops  to  another  great  body  of  Catholic 
Bishops,  then  it  will  lose  the  respect  of  all  mankind. 
If  the  United  States  closes  its  ear  to  this  pitiful  and 
heart-breaking  plea,  then  we  will  be  worthy  of  any 
punishment  that  may  be  inflicted  on  a  people  who  have 
forgotten  God. 

It  is  of  fundamental  importance  above  all  for  the 

1  Extract. 
221 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

German  people  to  have  a  neutral  commission  study  all 
the  facts  about  Belgium.  Either  they  must  be  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  the  charges  and  repudiate  the 
policy  of  their  military  leaders,  or  the  German  nation 
must  be  exonerated  if  the  charges  are  baseless.  The 
neutral  world  is  largely  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
statements  made  by  the  Belgian  Bishops. 

Here  is  a  report  of  the  work  of  the  Pax  Society :  — 

When  the  alleged  atrocities  by  Belgian  civilians,  including 
boys  and  girls  of  tender  age,  were  reported  in  the  German 
press,  a  society  of  priests  (Pax  Gesellschaft)  in  Cologne  made 
it  its  business  to  follow  them  up  by  inquiring  at  the  next 
Divisional  Headquarters  or  even  at  the  Berlin  War  Office 
for  confirmation.  It  would  seem  that  they  were  able  to 
obtain  an  official  denial  in  every  single  case  which  came 
under  their  notice.  During  the  present  year  the  Pax  Society 
placed  their  documentary  evidence  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Reverend  Bernhard  Duhr,  S.J.,  who  edited  and  published  a 
considerable  section  under  the  title, "The  Spirit  of  Lying  in 
the  War  of  Nations:  War  Legends  collected  by  Bernhard 
Duhr,  S.J."  Herr  Duhr  states  emphatically  that  there  was 
not  a  single  instance  of  gouged-out  eyes.  His  proofs  include 
the  denials  of  the  story  by  directors  of  military  hospitals  in 
all  parts  of  Germany.  The  book  is  interesting  as  a  psycho- 
logical study  of  the  effects  of  war  upon  the  popular  imagina- 
tion, but  it  may  further  possess  historical  value.  The  docu- 
ments collected  by  the  priests  all  bear  an  official  character 
and  seem  to  contradict  the  charges  in  the  Government's 
White  Book. 

In  February,  1915,  "Vorwarts"  protested  against  a 
little  work  by  a  Pastor  Conrad,  of  which  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  copies  were  printed  and  sold  at 
eight  pfennigs  per  copy  to  school-children,  in  which 
the  Belgians  were  still  accused  of  having  blinded  their 
prisoners. 

222 


ATROCITIES   BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

The  Belgian  Freemasons  ask  the  German  Freemasons 

to  investigate 1 

Painfully  moved  by  the  horrors  committed  in  Belgium, 
M.  Charles  Magnet,  the  National  Grand  Master  of  Belgian 
Freemasonry,  wrote  on  the  9th  September  to  nine  German 
lodges,  requesting  them  to  institute,  by  common  consent,  an 
inquiry  into  the  facts.  Since  the  Germans  denied  the  atroci- 
ties of  which  their  troops  were  accused,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  accusing  the  Belgians  of  maltreating  the  wounded, 
such  an  inquiry  could  only  have  a  happy  result.  Two  lodges 
only  replied.  "  The  request  is  superfluous;  this  inquiry  would 
be  an  insult  to  our  army,"  replied  the  Darmstadt  lodge. 
"Our  troops  are  not  ill-conducted;  it  would  even  be  danger- 
ous to  recommend  them  to  display  sensibility  and  kindness," 
replied  the  Bayreuth  lodge. 

On  the  24th  January,  1915,  Cardinal  Mercier  requested 
the  German  authorities  in  Belgium  to  set  up  a  commission 
comprising  both  Germans  and  Belgians,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  a  representative  of  a  neutral  country.  His  request 
was  accorded  no  reply. 

Thus,  the  Germans  refuse  to  allow  any  light  to  be  thrown 
on  their  actions  and  those  of  the  Belgians.  Why  this  opposi- 
tion to  a  faithful  search  for  the  truth?  They  fear,  perhaps, 
that  the  truth  will  be  unfavorable  to  them.  That  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  their  reasons;  but  we  do  not  think  it  can 
be  the  only  reason;  and  the  principal  reason  for  their  refusal 
is  without  doubt  the  voluntary  blindness  to  which  they  have 
one  and  all  subjected  themselves  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
war. 

They  have  decided,  one  would  imagine,  to  accept,  without 
any  discussion,  whatever  is  decreed  by  authority,  which 
they  invest  with  the  absolute  truth;  every  German  calmly 
receives  that  portion  of  the  truth  which  the  Government 
thinks  fit  to  dispense  to  its  faithful,  and  no  German  permits 
himself  to  ask  for  more.  M agister  dixit:  the  Staff  has  spoken! 

1  From  Belgians  under  the  German  Eagle,  by  Jean  Massart. 

223 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Letters  of  the  Bishops  of  Belgium  to  the  Bishops  of  Germany, 
Bavaria,  and  Austria-Hungary. 

November  the  2#h,  1915. 

To  Their  Eminences  the  Cardinals  and  Their  Lordships  the 
Bishops  of  Germany,  Bavaria,  and  Austria-Hungary : — ■ 

As  Catholic  Bishops,  you,  the  Bishops  of  Germany  on  the 
one  hand,  and  we,  the  Bishops  of  Belgium,  France,  and 
England  on  the  other,  have  been  giving  for  a  year  an  un- 
settling example  to  the  world. 

Scarcely  had  the  German  armies  trodden  the  soil  of  our 
country  than  the  rumor  was  spread  among  you  that  our 
civil  population  was  taking  part  in  military  operations;  that 
the  women  of  Vise  and  Liege  were  putting  out  your  soldiers' 
eyes;  that  the  populace  in  Antwerp  and  Brussels  had  sacked 
the  property  of  expelled  Germans. 


First  German  accusations 

In  the  first  days  of  August  (1914)  Dom  Ildefonds  Her- 
wegen,  Abbot  of  Maria  Laach,  sent  to  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Malines  a  telegram  in  which  he  begged  him,  for 
the  love  of  God,  to  protect  German  soldiers  against  the  tor- 
tures which  our  countrymen  were  supposed  to  be  inflicting 
on  them. 

Now,  it  was  notorious  that  our  Government  had  taken 
useful  measures  so  that  every  citizen  might  be  instructed  in 
the  laws  of  war;  in  each  commune,  the  arms  of  the  inhabit- 
ants had  to  be  deposited  in  the  communal  house;  by  posters, 
the  population  was  warned  that  only  citizens  regularly  en- 
rolled under  the  flag  were  authorized  to  bear  arms;  and  the 
clergy,  anxious  to  aid  the  State  in  its  mission,  had  spread,  by 
word  of  mouth,  by  parish  bulletins,  by  posters  on  church 
doors,  the  instructions  given  by  its  Government. 

We  were  accustomed  for  a  century  to  the  rule  of  peace 
and  we  had  no  idea  that  any  one,  in  good  faith,  could 
attribute  to  us  violent  instincts.  We  were  strong  in  our  right 
and  in  the   sincerity  of  our  peaceful  intentions;   and  we 

224 


ATROCITIES  BY  CIVILIANS  IN  BELGIUM 

answered  calumnies  about  "free  shooters"  and  "eyes  put 
out,"  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  since  we  were  persuaded 
that  the  truth  would  be  known,  without  delay,  of  itself. 

From  the  very  first  days  of  August  crimes  had  been  com- 
mitted, at  Battice,  Vise,  Berneau,  Herve,  and  elsewhere, 
but  we  were  hoping  that  they  would  remain  isolated  deeds, 
and,  knowing  the  very  high  relations  which  Dom  Ildefonds 
had,  we  put  great  confidence  in  the  following  declaration 
which  he  sent  us  on  the  11th  of  August:  — 

I  am  informed,  at  first  hand,  that  formal  orders  have 
been  given  to  German  soldiers  by  the  military  authori- 
ties to  spare  the  innocent.  As  to  the  very  deplorable 
fact  that  even  priests  have  lost  their  lives,  I  allow  myself 
to  bring  to  Your  Eminence's  attention  that,  within  these 
last  days,  the  dress  of  priests  and  monks  has  become  the 
object  of  suspicions  and  scandal,  since  French  spies  have 
used  the  ecclesiastical  costume,  and  even  that  of  reli- 
gious communities,  to  disguise  their  hostile  intentions. 

Meanwhile,  the  acts  of  hostility  toward  innocent  popu- 
lations went  on. 

First  protestations  of  the  Bishops  of  Liege  and  Namur 

On  the  18th  of  August,  1914,  the  Bishop  of  Liege  wrote  to 
the  Commanding  Officer,  Major  Bayer,  Governor  of  the  city 
of  Liege :  — 

One  after  the  other,  several  villages  have  been  de- 
stroyed; notable  persons,  among  whom  were  parish 
priests,  have  been  shot;  others  have  been  arrested,  and 
all  have  protested  their  innocence.  I  know  the  priests 
of  my  diocese;  I  cannot  believe  that  a  single  one  of  them 
would  have  made  himself  guilty  of  acts  of  hostility 
toward  the  German  soldiers.  I  have  visited  several  am- 
bulances, and  I  have  seen  German  soldiers  cared  for  in 
them  with  the  same  zeal  as  Belgians.  This  they  them- 
selves acknowledge. 

This  letter  remained  unanswered. 

In  the  beginning  of  September,  the  Emperor  of  Germany 

225 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

covered  with  his  authority  the  calumnious  accusations  of 
which  our  innocent  populations  were  the  object.  He  sent  to 
Mr.  Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States,  this  telegram, 
which,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  not  hitherto  been  retracted:  — 

The  Belgian  Government  has  publicly  encouraged 
the  civil  population  to  take  part  in  this  war,  which  it 
had  been  preparing  carefully  for  a  long  time.  The  cruel- 
ties committed  during  the  course  of  this  guerrilla  war, 
by  women  and  even  by  priests,  on  doctors  and  nurses 
have  been  such  that  my  generals  have  finally  been 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  most  rigorous  methods  to 
chastise  the  guilty  and  to  prevent  the  sanguinary  popu- 
lation continuing  its  abominable  criminal  and  odious 
deeds.  Several  villages  and  even  the  city  of  Louvain 
have  had  to  be  demolished  (excepting  the  very  beautiful 
H6tel-de-Ville)  in  the  interest  of  our  defense,  and  for 
the  protection  of  my  troops.  My  heart  bleeds  when  I 
see  that  such  measures  have  been  made  inevitable  and 
when  I  think  of  the  numberless  innocent  people  who 
have  lost  home  and  goods  as  a  consequence  of  those 
criminal  deeds. 

The  very  next  day,  12th  of  September,  the  Bishop  of  Na- 
mur  demanded  to  be  received  by  the  Military  Governor  of 
Namur,  and  protested  against  the  reputation  which  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor  sought, to  give  to  the  Belgian  clergy; 
he  affirmed  the  innocence  of  all  the  members  of  the  clergy 
who  had  been  shot  or  maltreated,  and  declared  that  he  was 
ready  himself  to  publish  any  culpable  deeds  which  might  be 
proved. 

The  offer  of  the  Bishop  of  Namur  was  not  accepted,  and 
no  answer  was  made  to  his  protest. 

Falsehoods  of  the  Imperial  Government 

Thus  calumny  was  able  to  pursue  its  course  freely. 
The  German  press  encouraged  it. 

Not  one  voice  was  lifted  up  in  Germany  to  take  the  defense 
of  the  victims. 

226 


ATROCITIES   BY  CIVILIANS   IN   BELGIUM 

We  know  that  these  shameless  accusations  of  the  Im- 
perial Government  are,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  calumnies 
—  we  know  it  and  we  swear  it. 

Belgian  Bishops  demand  an  investigation 

Very  well,  Most  Reverend  Eminences,  Venerated  Col- 
leagues of  the  German  Episcopate,  in  our  turn,  we  Arch- 
bishops and  Bishops  of  Belgium  —  revolting  at  the  calum- 
nies against  our  Belgian  country  and  its  glorious  army,  which 
are  contained  in  the  White  Book  of  the  Empire  and  repro- 
duced in  the  German  Catholics'  answer  to  the  work  pub- 
lished by  French  Catholics  —  we  feel  the  need  of  expressing 
to  our  King,  to  our  Government,  to  our  army,  to  our  coun- 
try, our  sorrowful  indignation. 

And  that  our  protest  may  not  run  counter  to  yours,  with- 
out useful  effect,  we  ask  you  to  be  willing  to  aid  us  to  insti- 
tute a  tribunal  of  inquiry  with  evidence  and  counter- 
evidence.  In  the  name  of  your  officiality,  you  will  appoint 
as  many  members  as  you  desire,  and  as  it  pleases  you  to 
choose;  we  will  appoint  as  many  more,  three  for  example, 
on  each  side.  And  we  will  ask  together  that  the  episco- 
pate of  a  neutral  State  —  Holland,  Spain,  Switzerland,  or 
the  United  States  —  appoint  for  us  a  "  superarbiter,"  who 
will  preside  at  the  operations  of  the  tribunal. 

You  have  taken  your  complaints  to  the  Sovereign  Head  of 
the  Church. 

It  is  not  just  that  he  should  hear  only  your  voice. 

You  will  have  the  loyalty  to  aid  us  to  make  our  voice 
heard  also. 

We  have  —  you  and  we  —  an  identical  duty,  to  put  be- 
fore His  Holiness  tried  documents  on  which  he  may  be  able 
to  base  his  judgment. 

The  German  Government  has  always  refused  a  serious 

investigation 

You  are  not  ignorant  of  the  efforts  we  have  made,  one 
after  another,  to  obtain  from  the  Power  which  occupies 
Belgium  the  constitution  of  a  tribunal  of  investigation. 

227 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Cardinal  of  Malines,  on  two  occasions,  in  writing,  — 
January  24,  1915,  and  February  10, 1915,  —  and  the  Bishop 
of  Namur,  by  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Military  Governor 
of  his  province,  April  12,  1915,  both  solicited  the  formation 
of  a  tribunal  to  be  composed  of  German  and  Belgian  arbiters 
in  equal  number  and  to  be  presided  over  by  a  delegate  from 
a  neutral  State. 

Our  efforts  met  with  an  obstinate  refusal. 

Yet  the  German  authority  was  desirous  to  institute  inves- 
tigations. But  it  wished  them  to  be  one-sided  —  that  is, 
without  any  judicial  value. 

After  it  had  refused  the  investigation  demanded  by  the 
Cardinal  of  Malines,  the  German  authorities  went  into 
different  localities  where  priests  had  been  shot  and  peaceful 
citizens  massacred  or  made  prisoners,  and  there  —  on  the 
depositions  of  a  few  witnesses  taken  haphazard  or  selected 
discreetly,  sometimes  in  presence  of  a  local  authority  who 
was  ignorant  of  the  German  language  and  thus  found  him- 
self forced  to  accept  and  sign  blindly  the  minutes  made  — 
it  believed  itself  authorized  to  come  to  conclusions  which 
were  afterwards  to  be  presented  to  the  public  as  results  of 
cross-examination. 

The  German  investigation  was  carried  out,  in  November. 
1914,  at  Louvain,  in  such  conditions.  It  is  therefore  devoid 
of  any  authority. 

So  it  is  natural  that  we  should  turn  to  you. 

The  Bishops  solemnly  affirm  the  innocence  of  the  Belgian 
people  and  the  cruelty  of  Germany 

We  demand  this  investigation,  Eminences  and  Venerated 
Colleagues,  before  all  else  to  avenge  the  honor  of  the  Belgian 
people.  Calumnies  put  forth  by  your  people  and  its  highest 
representatives  have  violated  it.  And  you  know  as  well  as 
we  the  adage  of  human,  Christian,  Catholic  moral  theology : 
"Without  restitution,  no  pardon"  —  Non  remittitur  pecta- 
tum,  nisi  restituatur  ablatum. 

Your  people,  by  the  organ  of  its  political  powers  and  of  its 
highest  moral  authorities,  has  accused  our  fellow-citizens  of 

228 


ATROCITIES   BY  CIVILIANS  IN   BELGIUM 

giving  themselves  up  to  atrocities  and  horrors  on  wounded 
German  soldiers,  and  particulars  are  given,  as  above  cited, 
by  the  White  Book  and  the  German  Catholics'  Manifesto. 
To  all  such  accusations  we  oppose  a  formal  denial  —  and 
we  demand  to  give  the  proofs  of  the  truth  of  our  denial. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  justify  the  atrocities  committed  in 
Belgium  by  the  German  army,  the  political  power  assert 
that  the  German  army  found  itself  in  Belgium  in  the  case  of 
legitimate  defense  against  a  treacherous  organization  of 
free-shooters. 

We  affirm  that  there  was  nowhere  in  Belgium  any  organi- 
zation of  free-shooters  —  and  we  demand,  in  the  name  of  our 
national  honor,  which  has  been  calumniated,  the  right  to 
give  proofs  of  the  truth  of  our  affirmation. 

You  will  call  whom  you  choose  before  the  tribunal  of  cross- 
investigation.  We  shall  invite  to  appear  there  all  the  priests 
of  parishes  where  civilians,  priests,  members  of  religious 
communities,  or  laymen  were  massacred  or  threatened  with 
death  to  the  cry  —  Man  hat  geschossen  [Some  one  has  been 
shooting]  —  we  shall  ask  all  these  priests  to  sign,  if  you 
wish  it,  their  testimony  under  oath  and  then  —  under 
penalty  of  pretending  that  the  whole  Belgian  clergy  is  per- 
jured, you  will  have  to  accept  and  the  civilized  world  will 
not  be  able  to  refuse  the  conclusions  of  this  solemn  and 
decisive  investigation. 

Relying  on  our  direct  experience,  we  know  —  and  we 
affirm  —  that  the  German  army  gave  itself  up  in  Belgium, 
in  a  hundred  different  places,  to  pillage  and  incendiarism, 
to  imprisoning  and  massacres  and  sacrileges  contrary  to  all 
justice  and  to  all  sentiment  of  humanity. 

Fifty  innocent  priests,  thousands  of  innocent  faithful, 
were  put  to  death;  hundreds  of  others,  whose  lives  have  been 
preserved  by  circumstances  independent  of  their  persecutors' 
will,  were  put  in  danger  of  death;  thousands  of  innocent 
people  were  made  prisoners  without  trial,  many  of  them  un- 
derwent months  of  detention,  and,  when  they  were  released, 
the  most  minute  questionings  to  which  they  had  been  sub- 
jected had  brought  out  against  them  no  evidence  of  guilt. 

These  crimes  cry  to  Heaven  for  vengeance. 

229 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

//,  when  we  formulate  these  denunciations  we  calumniate  the 
German  army;  or  if  the  military  authority  had  just  reasons  to 
order  or  permit  these  acts,  which  we  call  criminal,  it  belongs 
to  the  honor  and  to  the  national  interest  of  Germany  to  confound 
us.  Just  so  long  as  German  justice  tries  to  escape,  we  keep  the 
right  and  the  duty  to  denounce  what,  in  conscience,  we  consider 
a  grave  violation  of  justice  and  of  our  honor. 

No  escape  is  possible 

And,  forced  by  evidence,  we  answer  you  —  it  can  be  so, 
because  it  is  so. 

In  face  of  the  fact,  no  presumption  holds. 

For  you,  as  for  us,  there  is  but  one  issue  —  the  verification 
of  the  fact  by  a  commission  whose  impartiality  is  and  appears 
to  all  to  be  beyond  dispute. 

We  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  your  state  of  mind. 

We,  too,  respect,  believe  us,  the  spirit  of  discipline  and 
labor  and  faith  of  which  we  have  so  often  had  proofs  and 
gathered  testimony  among  your  fellow-countrymen.  Very 
numerous  are  those  Belgians  now  who  bitterly  confess  their 
deception.  But  they  have  lived  through  the  sinister  events 
of  August  and  September.  The  truth  has  triumphed  over 
all  interior  resistance.  The  fact  can  no  longer  be  denied  — ■ 
Belgium  has  been  made  a  martyr. 

You  will  say,  perhaps:  "That  is  the  past;  forget  it.  In- 
stead of  casting  oil  on  the  fire,  try  rather  to  pardon  and 
join  your  efforts  with  those  of  the  Power  occupying  your 
territory  —  for  it  only  asks  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  un- 
happy Belgian  people." 

Can  Belgium  be  asked  to  resign  herself  and  forget  ? 

Germany  will  not  give  us  back  the  blood  she  has  made  to  flow 
and  the  innocent  lives  her  armies  have  mowed  down  —  but  it 
is  in  her  power  to  make  restitution  to  the  Belgian  people  of  their 
honor,  which  she  has  violated  or  let  be  violated. 

230 


ATROCITIES   BY  CIVILIANS   IN   BELGIUM 

This  restitution  we  demand  from  you  — from  you  who  are 
the  first  and  chief  representatives  of  Christian  morals  in  the 
Church  of  Germany. 

There  is  but  one  way  to  put  a  stop  to  these  scandals,  which 
is  the  bringing  to  the  light  of  day  the  full  truth,  and  the  pub- 
lic condemnation,  by  the  religious  authority,  of  the  truly  guilty 
ones. 

But  there  is  a  question  which  dominates  all  that  —  a 
question  of  morals,  of  right,  and  of  honor. 

"Seek  ye  therefore  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His 
justice,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

Do  your  duty,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  result. 

Therefore,  we  bishops,  at  the  present  hour,  have  a  moral 
and,  consequently,  a  religious  duty  which  takes  precedence 
of  all  others  —  to  seek  and  to  proclaim  the  truth. 

Christ,  of  whom  it  is  our  great  honor  to  be  at  once  the 
disciples  and  the  ministers,  has  said  —  has  He  not?  —  that 
His  social  mission  is  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth:  "For  this 
was  I  born,  for  this  came  I  into  the  world;  that  I  should 
give  testimony  to  the  truth." 

In  the  solemn  days  of  our  consecration  as  bishops,  we 
promised  God  and  the  Catholic  Church  never  to  be  deserters 
of  the  truth,  not  to  give  it  up  for  ambition  or  fear  when  there 
should  be  question  of  proving  that  we  love  the  truth. 

Signed :  D.  J.  Cardinal  Mercier,  Archbishop  of  Malines. 
Anthony,  Bishop  of  Ghent. 
Gustave  J.,  Bishop  of  Bruges. 
Thomas  Louis,  Bishop  of  Namur. 
Martin  Hubert,  Bishop  of  Liege. 
Amedee  Crooy,  appointed  Bishop  of  Tournai. 

Poor  little  Belgium!  What  has  she  done  to  the  rich  and 
powerful  Germany,  her  neighbor,  to  be  thus  trodden  down, 
tortured,  calumniated,  bled,  oppressed  by  her? 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  HAGUE  CONVENTIONS  OF  1907 

Baron  Beyens,  in  his  book  "  Germany  Before  the 
War,"  says:  — 

It  was  not  unknown  abroad,  however,  at  any  rate  among 
jurists  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  Hague  Conferences, 
that  there  existed  in  Germany  a  "Code  for  war  on  land" 
(Kriegsgebrauch  im  Landeskriege) ,  published  in  Berlin  by  the 
General  Staff  in  1902.  The  handbook,  it  was  realized,  had 
been  written  in  quite  a  different  spirit  from  that  which  ani- 
mated the  labors  of  the  two  conferences.  This  special  war 
code  for  the  use  of  German  officers  openly  condemned  all 
humanitarian  ideas,  all  tender  regard  for  persons  or  property, 
as  incompatible  with  the  nature  and  object  of  war;  it  au- 
thorized every  means  of  attaining  that  object,  and  it  left  the 
choice  and  practice  of  those  means  to  the  entire  discretion  of 
the  corps  commanders.  Still,  however  uneasy  the  exponents 
of  international  law  may  have  felt  as  to  the  spread  of  such 
theories  in  Germany,  they  were  reassured  by  the  Imperial 
Government's  solemn  acceptance  of  the  1907  Hague  Con- 
ventions and  of  the  moral  principles  laid  down  therein  as 
follows :  — 

Article  2.  The  inhabitants  of  a  territory  which  has  not 
been  occupied,  who,  on  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  spon- 
taneously take  up  arms  to  resist  the  invading  troops  without 
having  had  time  to  organize  themselves  in  accordance  with 
Article  1,  shall  be  regarded  as  belligerents  if  they  carry  arms 
openly  and  if  they  respect  the  laws  and  customs  of  war. 

Article  3.  The  armed  forces  of  the  belligerent  parties  may 
consist  of  combatants  and  non-combatants.  In  the  case  of 
capture  by  the  enemy,  both  have  a  right  to  be  treated  as 
prisoners  of  war. 

Article  6.  The  State  may  utilize  the  labor  of  prisoners  of 

232 


THE  HAGUE  CONVENTIONS  OF   1907 

war,  according  to  their  rank  and  aptitude,  officers  excepted. 
The  tasks  shall  not  be  excessive  and  shall  have  no  connection 
with  the  operations  of  the  war. 

Article  22.  The  right  of  belligerents  to  adopt  means  of 
injuring  the  enemy  is  not  unlimited. 

Article  23.  In  addition  to  the  prohibitions  provided  by- 
special  conventions,  it  is  specially  forbidden:  — 

(a)  To  employ  poison  or  poisonous  weapons; 

(6)  To  kill  or  wound  treacherously  individuals  belonging 
to  the  hostile  nation  or  army; 

(c)  To  kill  or  wound  an  enemy  who,  having  laid  down 
his  arms,  or  having  no  longer  means  of  defense,  has  sur- 
rendered at  discretion; 

(d)  To  declare  that  no  quarter  will  be  given; 

(e)  To  employ  arms,  projectiles,  or  material  calculated 
to  cause  unnecessary  suffering; 

(/)  To  make  improper  use  of  a  flag  of  truce,  of  the  national 
flag  or  of  the  military  insignia  and  uniform  of  the  enemy,  as 
well  as  the  distinctive  badges  of  the  Geneva  Convention; 

(g)  To  destroy  or  seize  the  enemy's  property,  unless  such 
destruction  or  seizure  be  imperatively  demanded  by  the 
necessity  of  war; 

(h)  To  declare  abolished,  suspended,  or  inadmissible  in  a 
court  of  law  the  rights  and  actions  of  the  nationals  of  the 
hostile  party. 

A  belligerent  is  likewise  forbidden  to  compel  the  nationals 
of  the  hostile  party  to  take  part  in  the  operations  of  war 
directed  against  their  own  country,  even  if  they  were  in 
the  belligerent's  service  before  the  commencement  of  the 
war. 

Article  27.  In  sieges  and  bombardments  all  necessary 
steps  must  be  taken  to  spare,  as  far  as  possible,  buildings 
dedicated  to  religion,  art,  science  or  charitable  purposes, 
historic  monuments,  hospitals,  and  places  where  the  sick  and 
wounded  are  collected,  provided  they  are  not  being  used  at 
the  time  for  military  purposes. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  besieged  to  indicate  the  presence  of 
such  buildings  or  places  by  distinctive  signs,  which  shall  be 
notified  to  the  enemy  beforehand. 

233 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Article  28.  The  pillage  of  a  town  or  place,  even  when 
taken  by  assault,  is  prohibited. 

Article  45.  It  is  forbidden  to  compel  the  inhabitants  of 
occupied  territory  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  hostile  Power. 

Article  46.  Family  honor  and  rights,  the  lives  of  persons, 
and  private  property,  as  well  as  religious  convictions  and 
practice,  must  be  respected. 

Private  property  cannot  be  confiscated. 

Article  47.  Pillage  is  formally  prohibited. 

Article  49.  If,  in  addition  to  the  taxes  mentioned  in  the 
above  article,  the  occupant  levies  other  money  contributions 
in  the  occupied  territory,  this  shall  only  be  for  the  needs  of 
the  army  or  of  the  administration  of  the  territory  in  ques- 
tion. 

Article  50.  No  general  penalty,  pecuniary  or  otherwise, 
shall  be  inflicted  upon  the  population  on  account  of  the  acts 
of  individuals  for  which  they  cannot  be  regarded  as  jointly 
and  severally  responsible. 

Article  52.  Requisitions  in  kind  and  services  shall  not  be 
demanded  from  municipalities  or  inhabitants  except  for  the 
needs  of  the  army  of  occupation.  They  shall  be  in  proportion 
to  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  of  such  a  nature  as  not 
to  involve  the  inhabitants  in  the  obligation  of  taking  part  in 
military  operations  against  their  country. 

Such  requisitions  and  services  shall  only  be  demanded  on 
the  authority  of  the  commander  in  the  locality  occupied. 

Contributions  in  kind  shall  as  far  as  possible  be  paid  for 
in  cash;  if  not,  a  receipt  shall  be  given  and  the  payment  of 
the  amount  due  shall  be  made  as  soon  as  possible. 

Article  53.  An  army  of  occupation  can  only  take  posses- 
sion of  cash,  funds,  and  realizable  securities  which  are 
strictly  the  property  of  the  State,  depots  of  arms,  means  of 
transport,  stores  and  supplies,  and,  generally,  all  movable 
property  belonging  to  the  State  which  may  be  used  for 
military  operations. 

All  appliances,  whether  on  land,  at  sea,  or  in  the  air, 
adapted  for  the  transmission  of  news,  or  for  the  transport  of 
persons  or  things,  exclusive  of  cases  governed  by  naval  law, 
depots  of  arms  and,  generally,  all  kinds  of  ammunition  of 

234 


THE   HAGUE  CONVENTIONS  OF  1907 


war,  may  be  seized,  even  if  they  belong  to  private  individ- 
uals, but  must  be  restored  and  compensation  fixed  when 
peace  is  made. 

Article  55.  The  occupying  State  shall  be  regarded  only 
as  administrator  and  usufructuary  of  public  buildings,  real 
estate,  forests,  and  agricultural  estates  belonging  to  the 
hostile  State,  and  situated  in  the  occupied  country.  It  must 
safeguard  the  capital  of  these  properties,  and  administer 
them  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  usufruct. 

Article  56.  The  property  of  municipalities,  that  of  institu- 
tions dedicated  to  religion,  charity  and  education,  the  arts 
and  sciences,  even  when  State  property,  shall  be  treated  as 
private  property. 

All  seizure  of,  destruction,  or  willful  damage  done  to  insti- 
tutions of  this  character,  historic  monuments,  works  of  art 
and  science,  is  forbidden,  and  should  be  made  the  subject  of 
legal  proceedings. 

The  1907  Convention  was  ratified  by  the  following 
signatory  powers  on  the  dates  indicated:  — 

Austria-Hungary November 

Belgium August 

Bolivia November 

Brazil January 

Cuba February 

Denmark November 

France October 

Germany November 

Great  Britain November 

Guatemala March 

Haiti February 

Japan December 

Luxemburg September 

Mexico November 

Netherlands November 

Norway September 

Panama September 

Portugal April 

Rumania March 

Russia November 

235 


27, 

1909 

8, 

1910 

27, 

1909 

5, 

1914 

22, 

1912 

27, 

1909 

7, 

1910 

27, 

1909 

27, 

1909 

15, 

1911 

2, 

1910 

13, 

1911 

5, 

1912 

27, 

1909 

27, 

1909 

19, 

1910 

11, 

1911 

13, 

1911 

1, 

1912 

27, 

1909 

OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Salvador November  27,  1909 

Siam March         12,  1910 

Sweden November  27,  1909 

Switzerland May  12,  1910 

United  States November  27,  1909 

Adhesions:  — 

Liberia , February      4,  1914 

Nicaragua December  16,  1909 

The  following  powers  signed  the  Convention,  but 
have  not  yet  ratified :  — 

Argentine  Republic  Montenegro 

Bulgaria  Paraguay 

Chile  Persia 

Columbia  Peru 

Dominican  Republic  Servia 

Ecuador  Turkey 

Greece  Uruguay 

Italy  Venezuela 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   NEUTRALITY   OF    BELGIUM 

I.  Early  History 

There  are  three  nations  in  Europe  whose  neutrality 
is  guaranteed  by  the  great  powers,  Switzerland  (1815), 
Belgium  (1839),  and  Luxemburg  (1867). 

The  effect  of  the  treaty  between  England,  France, 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Russia  guaranteeing  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium  was  to  constitute  Belgium  a  barrier 
or  a  buffer  state.  The  treaty  was  of  advantage  to 
Prussia  as  affording  a  barrier  state  against  France. 
It  was  agreed  to  by  France  because  she  saw  no  hope 
of  being  allowed  to  annex  Belgium. 

Von  Moltke  —  the  elder  —  dealing  with  the  basic 
military  policy  of  Prussia  in  1858,  said :  — 

Belgium  sees  in  France  the  only  actual  enemy  to  her  inde- 
pendence; she  considers  England,  Prussia,  and  even  Holland, 
as  her  best  allies.  ...  If  we  respect  Belgium's  neutrality  we 
will  protect  thereby  the  largest  part  of  our  western  frontier. 

For  many  years  the  guaranteed  neutrality  of  Bel- 
gium helped  to  protect  Prussia  from  France. 

Much  later,  since  the  formation  of  the  German 
Empire,  Karl  Hildebrand  writes :  — 

But  far  more  prominent  and  more  considerable  [than  the 
interest  of  France]  is  the  interest  of  Germany  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  Belgian  state  and  its  neutrality.  Belgium  takes 
the  place  to  Germany  of  a  whole  army  and  a  chain  of  for- 
tresses. ...  It  is  thanks  to  this  neutrality  that  the  war  of 
1870  did  not  degenerate  into  a  world-wide  war,  and  if  — 

237 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

which  God  forbid  —  such  an  impious  war  were  to  arise 
again,  doubtless  the  same  phenomena  would  be  repro- 
duced. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  Bis- 
marck wrote  to  the  Belgian  Minister  in  Berlin  on  July 
22,  1870:  — 

In  confirmation  of  my  verbal  assurance,  I  have  the  honor 
to  give  in  writing  a  declaration,  which,  in  view  of  the 
treaties  in  force,  is  quite  superfluous,  that  the  Confederation 
of  the  North  and  its  allies  [Germany]  will  respect  the  neutral- 
ity of  Belgium  on  the  understanding  of  course  that  it  is 
respected  by  the  other  belligerent. 

Belgium  was  a  barrier  state  for  England,  because 
the  guaranteed  neutralization  of  Belgium  prevented  a 
strong  power  from  getting  control  of  the  coast  and 
threatening  England.  Early  in  1852  Queen  Victoria 
wrote  to  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  assuring  him  against 
the  alleged  designs  of  Napoleon  III,  and  stating,  "Any 
attempt  on  Belgium  would  be  casus  belli  for  us." 

Mr.  David  Jayne  Hill,  an  eminent  authority  on 
international  law,  says :  — 

While  this  arrangement  prevents  making  their  territories 
the  scene  of  hostilities,  it  does  not  deprive  these  States  of  the 
right  of  self-defense.  On  the  contrary,  it  imposes  upon  them 
the  duty  of  defending  their  neutrality  to  the  best  of  their  abil- 
ity; but,  as  they  enjoy  the  guaranty  of  the  powers  that  they 
will  aid  them  in  this  respect,  it  is  improbable  that  their  neu- 
trality will  ever  be  violated. 

The  neutralization  of  Belgium  has  a  counterpart  in 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  of  the  United  States.  This  doc- 
trine originated  in  conversations  between  Ministers 
of  the  United  States  at  London  and  members  of  the 

238 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

British  Government.  Its  enforcement  has  not  depended 
on  a  treaty  because  its  principles  accord  with  the  inter- 
ests of  the  United  States  and  England. 

II.  The  German  Case  against  Belgium 

When  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  announced  the  open- 
ing of  the  war  in  his  speech  in  the  Reichstag,  August 
4,  1914,  he  said  in  part:  — 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  in  a  state  of  necessity,  and  neces- 
sity knows  no  law.  Our  troops  have  occupied  Luxemburg, 
and  perhaps  have  already  entered  Belgian  territory. 

Gentlemen,  that  is  a  breach  of  international  law.  .  .  .  The 
wrong  —  I  speak  openly  —  the  wrong  we  thereby  commit 
we  will  try  to  make  good  as  soon  as  our  military  aims  have 
been  attained. 

But  the  violation  of  Belgium,  and  the  subsequent 
terrorization  as  set  forth  by  Cardinal  Mercier  and 
by  the  proclamation  of  German  generals,  as  well  as 
by  other  testimony,  caused  a  tremendous  hostility 
to  Germany.  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg  came  to  the 
United  States  to  get  a  hearing  for  Germany's  side. 
Dr.  Dernburg  knew  America  well.  He  had  spent  many 
years  in  financial  circles  in  New  York  City.  In  the 
widely  circulated  weekly,  the  "Saturday  Evening 
Post"  (Philadelphia),  he  took  the  bull  by  the  horns  in 
these  words :  — 

When  the  war  broke  out  there  was  no  enforceable  treaty 
in  existence  to  which  Germany  was  a  party.  Originally,  in 
1839,  a  treaty  was  concluded,  providing  for  such  neutrality. 
In  1866  France  demanded  of  Prussia  the  right  to  take  pos- 
session of  Belgium,  and  the  written  French  offer  was  made 
known  by  Bismarck  in  July,  1870.  Then  England  demanded 
and  obtained  separate  treaties  with  France,  and  with  the 

239 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

North  German  Federation,  to  the  effect  that  they  should 
respect  Belgium's  neutrality,  and  such  treaties  were  signed 
on  the  9th  and  26th  of  August,  1870,  respectively.  Accord- 
ing to  them,  both  countries  guaranteed  Belgium's  neutrality 
for  the  duration  of  the  war  and  for  one  year  thereafter.  The 
war  came  to  an  end  with  the  Frankfort  peace  in  1871,  and 
the  treaty  between  Belgium  and  the  North  German  Federa- 
tion expired  in  May,  1872. 

Now,  it  may  be  said  that  if  Dr.  Dernburg  is  right,  the 
Ministers  of  the  German  Government  were  wrong. 

Baron  Beyens,  the  Belgian  Minister  to  Berlin,  in- 
formed his  Government  under  date  of  May  2,  1913,  as 
follows :  — 

I  have  the  honor  of  informing  you,  according  to  the  semi- 
official "  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung,"  of  the  declara- 
tions made  in  the  course  of  the  sitting  of  the  29th  of  April 
[1913]  of  the  Budget  Committee  of  the  Reichstag  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  and  the  Minister  of 
War  with  reference  to  Belgian  neutrality. 

A  member  of  the  Social  Democratic  Party  said  "  In  Bel- 
gium the  approach  of  a  Franco-German  war  is  viewed  with 
apprehension,  because  it  is  feared  that  Germany  will  not  re- 
spect Belgian  neutrality." 

Herr  von  Jagow,  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
replied:  "The  neutrality  of  Belgium  is  determined  by  inter- 
national conventions,  and  Germany  is  resolved  to  respect 
these  conventions." 

This  declaration  did  not  satisfy  another  member  of  the 
Social  Democratic  Party.  Herr  von  Jagow  observed  that  he 
had  nothing  to  add  to  the  clear  statement  which  he  had 
uttered  with  reference  to  the  relations  between  Germany 
and  Belgium. 

In  reply  to  further  interrogations  from  a  member  of  the 
Social  Democratic  Party,  Herr  von  Heeringen,  Minister  of 
War,  stated,  "Belgium  does  not  play  any  part  in  the  justi- 
fication of  the  German  scheme  of  military  reorganization; 
the  scheme  is  justified  by  the  position  of  matters  in  the  East. 

240 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

Germany  will  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  Belgian  neutral- 
ity is  guaranteed  by  international  treaties." 

A  member  of  the  Progressive  Party  having  again  referred 
to  Belgium,  Herr  von  Jagow  again  pointed  out  that  his 
declaration  regarding  Belgium  was  sufficiently  clear. 

To  my  mind  the  Ministers  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment were  right  and  Dr.  Dernburg  was  wrong. 

In  the  Treaty  of  1870,  Article  3,  occurs  this  pro- 
vision as  quoted  by  Dr.  Dernburg:  — 

Art.  3.  This  treaty  shall  be  binding  on  the  High  Contract- 
ing Parties  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war  be- 
tween the  North  German  Confederation  and  France,  and 
for  12  months  after  the  ratification  of  any  treaty  of  peace 
concluded  between  those  parties; 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  quotation  ends  with  a 
semicolon.  Dr.  Dernburg  does  not  complete  the  sen- 
tence.  Here  is  the  complete  article :  — 

Art.  3.  This  treaty  shall  be  binding  on  the  High  Con- 
tracting Parties  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war 
between  the  North  German  Confederation  and  France,  and 
for  12  months  after  the  ratification  of  any  treaty  of  peace 
concluded  between  those  parties;  and  on  the  expiration  of 
that  time  the  independence  and  neutrality  of  Belgium  will, 
so  far  as  the  High  Contracting  Parties  are  respectively 
concerned,  continue  to  rest  as  heretofore  on  the  first  arti- 
cle of  the  Quintuple  Treaty  of  the  19th  of  April,  1839. 

Now  it  may  be  said,  without  reflecting  on  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  readers  of  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post," 
that  but  very  few  of  them  could  know  of  the  very  im- 
portant partial  suppression  of  a  very  important  treaty, 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  part  of  the  treaty 
suppressed  by  Dr.  Dernburg  was  known  to  the  German 
Government. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  German  authorities  that  the 

241 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

treaty  of  Belgian  neutrality  was  not  binding  on  the 
German  Empire,  because  it  was  made  by  Prussia. 
Every  American  will  remember,  however,  that  in  the 
Frye  case  the  German  Government  cited  a  provision 
in  a  treaty  made  between  Prussia  and  the  United 
States  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Further,  we  must 
accuse  the  Ministers  of  the  German  Government  of 
hypocrisy  if  their  promises  to  respect  Belgian  neu- 
trality were  made,  because  of  "international  conven- 
tions," knowing  that  there  were  no  treaty  obligations. 

Further,  if  the  Treaty  of  1839  had  ceased  to  exist, 
Belgium  would  have  the  status  of  other  neutral  coun- 
tries like  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway,  and 
the  violation  of  her  neutrality  would  be  equally  a 
crime  against  civilization. 

When  the  war  in  1870  between  France  and  Prussia 
broke  out,  there  was  acute  anxiety  as  to  Belgium  caused 
by  the  publication  of  a  memorandum  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  Napoleon  Ill's  envoy  to  Prussia  expressing  the 
wish  of  the  French  Emperor  to  annex  Belgium.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  the  English  Government  ques- 
tioned the  two  belligerents  as  to  their  intentions  toward 
Belgium.  Each  replied  that  he  would  respect  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium  unless  the  other  first  violated  it. 
Then  Great  Britain  made  an  identical  treaty  with  the 
French  and  German  Governments.  This  is  a  copy  of 
the  treaty  between  England  and  Prussia :  — 

Treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  Prussia,  relative  to  the 
Independence  and  Neutrality  of  Belgium 

Signed  at  London,  9th  August,  1870 
Reference  to  Treaties  of  19th  April,  1839 

Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Prussia, 

242 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

being  desirous  at  the  present  time  of  recording  in  a  solemn 
Act  their  fixed  determination  to  maintain  the  Independence 
and  Neutrality  of  Belgium,  as  provided  in  Article  VII  of 
the  Treaty  signed  at  London  on  the  19th  April,  1839,  be- 
tween Belgium  and  the  Netherlands,  which  Article  was  de- 
clared by  the  Quintuple  Treaty  of  1839  to  be  considered  as 
having  the  same  force  and  value  as  if  textually  inserted  in 
the  said  Quintuple  Treaty,  their  said  Majesties  have  deter- 
mined to  conclude  between  themselves  a  separate  Treaty, 
which,  without  impairing  or  invalidating  the  conditions  of 
the  said  Quintuple  Treaty,  shall  be  subsidiary  and  accessory 
to  it;  and  they  have  accordingly  named  as  their  Plenipoten- 
tiaries for  that  purpose,  that  is  to  say:  — 


Cooperation  of  Great  Britain  with  Prussia  in  case  of  violation  of 
Neutrality  of  Belgium  by  France 

Article  I.  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Prussia  having  de- 
clared that  notwithstanding  the  Hostilities  in  which  the 
North  German  Confederation  is  engaged  with  France,  it  is 
his  fixed  determination  to  respect  the  Neutrality  of  Belgium, 
so  long  as  the  same  shall  be  respected  by  France,  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  on  her  part  declares  that,  if  during  the  said 
Hostilities  the  Armies  of  France  should  violate  that  Neutral- 
ity, she  will  be  prepared  to  cooperate  with  His  Prussian 
Majesty  for  the  defence  of  the  same  in  such  manner  as  may 
be  mutually  agreed  upon,  employing  for  that  purpose  her 
Naval  and  Military  Forces  to  insure  its  observance,  and  to 
maintain,  in  conjunction  with  His  Prussian  Majesty,  then 
and  thereafter  the  Independence  and  Neutrality  of  Belgium. 


Great  Britain  not  engaged  to  take  part  in  war  between  North  German 
Confederation  and  France,  except  as  regards  violation  of  Belgian 
Neutrality 

It  is  clearly  understood  that  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  does  not 

243 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

engage  herself  by  this  Treaty  to  take  part  in  any  of  the  gen- 
eral operations  of  the  War  now  carried  on  between  the  North 
German  Confederation  and  France,  beyond  the  Limits  of 
Belgium,  as  defined  in  the  Treaty  between  Belgium  and  the 
Netherlands  of  19th  April,  1839. 

Cooperation  of  Prussia  with  Great  Britain  in  case  of  Violation  of 
Neutrality  of  Belgium  by  France 

Article  II.  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Prussia  agrees  on  his 
part,  in  the  event  provided  for  in  the  foregoing  Article,  to 
cooperate  with  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  the  United  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  employing  his  Naval  and 
Military  Forces  for  the  purpose  aforesaid;  and,  the  case 
arising,  to  concert  with  Her  Majesty  the  measures  which 
shall  be  taken,  separately  or  in  common,  to  secure  the 
Neutrality  and  Independence  of  Belgium. 

Treaty  to  be  binding  until  conclusion  of  a  Treaty  of  Peace  between 

France  and  Prussia 

Article  III.  This  Treaty  shall  be  binding  on  the  High 
Contracting  Parties  during  the  continuance  of  the  present 
War  between  the  North  German  Confederation  and  France, 
and  for  12  months  after  the  Ratification  of  any  Treaty  of 
Peace  concluded  between  those  Parties;  and  on  the  expira- 
tion of  that  time  the  Independence  and  Neutrality  of  Bel- 
gium will,  so  far  as  the  High  Contracting  Parties  are  respec- 
tively concerned,  continue  to  rest  as  heretofore  on  Article  I 
of  the  Quintuple  Treaty  of  the  19th  April,  1839. 

At  the  same  time  England  made  a  similar  treaty 
with  France.  In  connection  with  the  discussion  in 
Parliament  as  to  this  treaty,  Mr.  Gladstone  made  this 
speech,  which  is  so  often  quoted :  — 

There  is,  I  admit,  the  obligation  of  the  Treaty  [of  1839]. 
It  is  not  necessary,  nor  would  time  permit  me,  to  enter  into 
the  complicated  question  of  the  nature  of  the  obligations  of 
that  Treaty;  but  I  am  not  able  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  of 

244 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF   BELGIUM 

those  who  have  held  in  this  House  what  plainly  amounts  to 
an  assertion  that  the  simple  fact  of  the  existence  of  a  guar- 
antee is  binding  on  every  party  to  it  irrespectively  altogether 
of  the  particular  position  in  which  it  may  find  itself  at  the 
time  when  the  occasion  for  acting  on  the  guarantee  arises. 
The  great  authorities  upon  foreign  policy  to  whom  I  have 
been  accustomed  to  listen  —  such  as  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord 
Palmerston  —  never,  to  my  knowledge,  took  that  rigid,  and 
if  I  may  venture  to  say  so,  that  impracticable  view  of  a 
guarantee.  The  circumstance  that  there  is  already  an  exist- 
ing guarantee  in  force  is  of  necessity  an  important  fact,  and 
a  weighty  element  in  the  case,  to  which  we  are  bound  to  give 
full  and  ample  consideration.  There  is  also  this  further  con- 
sideration, the  force  of  which  we  must  all  feel  most  deeply, 
and  that  is  the  common  interest  against  the  unmeasured 
aggrandizement  of  any  power  whatever. 

But  there  is  one  other  motive,  which  I  shall  place  at  the 
head  of  all,  that  attaches  peculiarly  to  the  preservation  of 
the  independence  of  Belgium.  What  is  that  country?  It  is 
a  country  containing  4,000,000  or  5,000,000  of  people,  with 
much  of  an  historic  past,  and  imbued  with  a  sentiment  of 
nationality  and  a  spirit  of  independence  as  warm  and  as 
genuine  as  that  which  beats  in  the  hearts  of  the  proudest 
and  most  powerful  nations.  By  the  regulation  of  its  internal 
concerns,  amid  the  shocks  of  revolution,  Belgium,  through 
all  the  crises  of  the  age,  has  set  to  Europe  an  example  of  a 
good  and  stable  government  gracefully  associated  with  the 
widest  possible  extension  of  the  liberty  of  the  people.  Look- 
ing at  a  country  such  as  this,  is  there  any  man  who  hears 
me  who  does  not  feel  that  if,  in  order  to  satisfy  a  greedy 
appetite  for  aggrandizement,  coming  whence  it  may,  Bel- 
gium were  absorbed,  the  day  that  witnessed  that  absorption 
would  hear  the  knell  of  public  right  and  public  law  in  Europe? 

But  we  have  an  interest  in  the  independence  of  Belgium 
which  is  wider  than  that  —  which  is  wider  than  that  which 
we  may  have  in  the  literal  operation  of  the  guarantee.  It  is 
found  in  the  answer  to  the  question  whether,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  this  country,  endowed  as  it  is  with 
influence  and  power,  would  quietly  stand  by  and  witness  the 

245 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

perpetration  of  the  direst  crime  that  ever  stained  the  pages 
of  history,  and  thus  become  participators  in  the  sin?  .  .  . 

But  in  what,  then,  lies  the  difference  between  the  two 
Treaties?  It  is  in  this  —  that,  in  accordance  with  our  obliga- 
tions, we  should  have  had  to  act  under  the  Treaty  of  1839 
without  stipulated  assurance  of  being  supported  from  any 
quarter  whatever  against  any  combination,  however  formid- 
able; whereas  by  the  Treaty  now  formally  before  Parliament, 
under  the  conditions  laid  down  in  it,  we  secure  powerful 
support  in  the  event  of  our  having  to  act.  .  .  . 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  this  is  a  cumulative  Treaty,  added 
to  the  Treaty  of  1839,  as  the  right  honorable  gentleman  op- 
posite [Mr.  Disraeli],  with  perfect  precision,  described  it.  .  .  . 

The  Treaty  of  1839  loses  nothing  of  its  force  even  during 
the  existence  of  this  present  Treaty.  There  is  no  derogation 
from  it  whatever.  The  Treaty  of  1839  includes  terms  which 
are  expressly  included  in  the  present  instrument,  lest  by  any 
chance  it  should  be  said  that  in  consequence  of  the  existence 
of  this  instrument,  the  Treaty  of  1839  had  been  injured  or 
impaired. 

The  first  part  of  Gladstone's  speech  has  been  used  to 
support  the  contention  that  a  nation  may  under  cer- 
tain conditions  fail  to  fulfill  its  treaty  obligations.  On 
this  point  I  quote  Professor  E.  C.  Stowell,  of  Colum- 
bia University :  — 

What  Gladstone  undoubtedly  meant  by  this  was  that  the 
English  statesmen  perceived  that  the  whole  brunt  of  main- 
taining the  Belgian  neutrality  rested  upon  their  shoulders, 
and  that  though  they  intended  to  take  every  means  to  make 
good  the  engagement  into  which  they  had  entered,  they  did 
not  feel  that  England  was  in  honor  bound,  where  the  odds 
were  too  great  against  her,  to  stake  her  national  existence  in 
the  defense  of  Belgian  neutrality. 

Gladstone  has  been  criticized  for  this  frank  expression, 
and  in  truth  his  speech  seems  to  present  a  confusion  of  ideas 
which  lays  him  open  to  criticism.  In  reality,  however,  his 
stand  was  perfectly  justified,  for  otherwise,  in  agreeing  to 

246 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  England  would  have  been  digging 
a  pit  into  which  she  herself  might  later  have  fallen.  Glad- 
stone could  not  have  meant  that  England  would  ever  shirk 
her  obligation  to  participate  in  any  reasonable  measures  to 
make  good  the  guaranty.  England's  vital  interests  would 
surely  recommend  such  a  course;  but  it  would  have  been  an 
impracticable  view  of  the  obligation  which  would  have  sent 
England  to  her  doom  in  the  face  of  a  great  Continental  com- 
bination intent  upon  violating  the  obligation  imposed  by 
the  Treaty  of  1839. 

If,  for  example,  Russia,  Germany,  France  and 
Austria  had  combined  to  destroy  the  neutrality  of 
Belgium,  English  intervention  would  have  been  use- 
less. To  violate  the  treaty,  however,  is  different  from 
fighting  to  maintain  it  under  any  circumstances. 

The  other  portions  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  pre- 
sent the  British  Monroe  Doctrine  as  to  Belgium. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Queen  Victoria's  words  in 
her  letter  to  the  King  of  the  Belgians  in  1852  were  true 
for  England  for  all  time. 

The  universal  conviction  in  Germany  is  that  Bel- 
gium was  one  of  the  enemy  nations  that  had  conspired 
to  attack  Germany.  I  will  now  consider  the  principal 
basis  of  this  belief  —  the  documents  found  by  the 
German  military  forces  in  the  archives  of  the  Belgian 
Government  in  Brussels. 

The  first  document  is  a  letter  by  General  Ducarne, 
Chief  of  the  Belgian  General  Staff,  to  the  Belgian 
Minister  of  War,  dated  Brussels,  April  10,  1906.  It 
details  the  second  conversation  with  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Barnardiston,  the  British  Military  Attache. 
These  conversations  dealt  with  the  technical  questions 
involved  in  the  cooperation  of  British  troops  with  the 
Belgian  forces. 

247 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  conditions  under  which  those  military  opera- 
tions would  take  place  are  set  forth  in  the  following 
paragraph  of  the  document :  — 

He  [Colonel  Barnardiston]  proceeded  in  the  following 
sense :  The  landing  of  the  English  troops  would  take  place  at 
the  French  coast  in  the  vicinity  of  Dunkirk  and  Calais,  so 
as  to  hasten  their  movements  as  much  as  possible.  The  entry 
of  the  English  into  Belgium  would  take  place  only  after  the 
violation  of  our  neutrality  by  Germany.  A  landing  in  Ant- 
werp would  take  much  more  time,  because  larger  transports 
would  be  needed,  and  because,  on  the  other  hand,  the  safety 
would  be  less  complete. 

Farther  on  in  the  margin  is  a  note  by  the  Belgian 
general  as  follows :  — 

The  entry  of  the  English  into  Belgium  would  only  take 
place  after  the  violation  of  our  neutrality  by  Germany. 

The  question  arises,  Did  these  negotiations  bind 
the  respective  Governments?  The  document  contains 
the  following  paragraph :  — 

After  having  expressed  his  full  satisfaction  with  my  expla- 
nations, my  visitor  laid  emphasis  on  the  following  facts: 
(1)  that  our  conversation  was  entirely  confidential;  (2)  that 
it  was  not  binding  on  his  Government;  (3)  that  his  Minister, 
the  English  General  Staff,  he  and  I  were,  up  to  the  present, 
the  only  ones  informed  about  the  matter;  (4)  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  the  opinion  of  his  Sovereign  had  been  con- 
sulted. 

The  second  document  bears  the  date  of  April  23, 
and  it  is  believed  that  the  year  was  1912.  I  print  the 
document  in  full:  — 

The  British  Military  Attache  asked  to  see  General  Jung- 
bluth.   The  two  gentlemen  met  on  April  23. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Bridges  told  the  General  that  England 

248 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

had  at  her  disposal  an  army  which  could  be  sent  to  the 
Continent  composed  of  six  divisions  of  infantry  and  eight 
brigades  of  cavalry  —  together  160,000  troops.  She  has  also 
everything  which  is  necessary  for  her  to  defend  her  insular 
territory.   Everything  is  ready. 

At  the  time  of  the  recent  events,  the  British  Government 
would  have  immediately  effected  a  disembarkment  in  Bel- 
gium, even  if  we  had  not  asked  for  assistance. 

The  General  objected  that  for  that  our  consent  was  neces- 
sary. 

The  Military  Attache  answered  that  he  knew  this,  but 
that  —  since  we  were  not  able  to  prevent  the  Germans  from 
passing  through  our  country  —  England  would  have  landed 
her  troops  in  Belgium  under  all  circumstances. 

As  for  the  place  of  landing,  the  Military  Attache  did  not 
make  a  precise  statement:  he  said  that  the  coast  was  rather 
long,  but  the  General  knows  that  Mr.  Bridges,  during  Easter 
has  paid  daily  visits  to  Zeebrugge  from  Ostende. 

The  General  added  that  we  were,  besides,  perfectly  able  to 
prevent  the  Germans  from  passing  through. 

It  is  believed  in  Germany  that  this  document  proves 
that  England  proposed  to  invade  Belgium  as  soon  as 
a  Franco-German  war  broke  out.  And  this  document 
constitutes  to  the  German  people  the  absolute  justi- 
fication of  the  German  invasion  of  Belgium. 

If  the  Governments  of  Belgium  and  England  had 
agreed  to  invade  Germany  with  their  combined  forces 
in  case  of  a  Franco-German  war,  irrespective  of  a  prior 
entry  by  Germany,  Belgium  would  have  forfeited  any 
protection  she  might  claim  from  the  Treaty  of  1839. 
But  even  so,  until  Belgium  had  declared  war,  or  en- 
gaged in  hostilities,  she  was  not,  according  to  the  law 
of  nations,  subject  to  attack.  France  was  closely  allied 
with  Russia,  but  if  France  had  decided  to  remain  out  of 
the  war,  Germany  could  not  rightfully  have  attacked 

249 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

her.  Italy  was  allied  to  Germany  and  Austria,  but  she 
was  not  subject  to  attack  by  the  forces  of  England  and 
France. 

Let  us  place  the  most  extreme  construction  on  the 
words  of  the  Military  Attache  of  Great  Britain,  and 
let  us  assume  that  he  spoke  with  the  full  authority 
of  his  Government,  and  let  us  further  assume  that 
Great  Britain  meant  to  invade  Germany  through 
Belgium,  not  waiting  until  Belgium's  neutrality  was 
violated.  Even  so  Belgium's  record  is  clear.  The 
Belgian  General  "objected  that  for  that  our  consent 
was  necessary."  The  Belgian  General  further  said 
"we  were,  besides,  perfectly  able  to  prevent  the  Ger- 
mans from  passing  through." 

From  these  statements  it  would  seem  that  the  Bel- 
gian Government  contemplated  a  situation  in  which 
military  action  on  the  part  of  England  and  Belgium 
would  only  follow  the  invasion  of  Belgium  by  Ger- 
many. 

There  was  undoubtedly  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  in 
Belgium  as  to  her  fate  if  a  war  broke  out  between  Ger- 
many and  France.  It  will  be  noticed  that  when  Von 
Jagow,  the  German  Secretary  of  State,  and  Von  Heer- 
ingen,  the  German  Minister  of  War,  made  their  state- 
ments in  the  Reichstag,  as  to  the  German  attitude 
toward  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  the  Belgian  Min- 
ister at  Berlin  at  once  communicated  the  reassuring 
statements  to  his  Government. 

Also  the  Belgian  Government  must  have  asked  the 
intentions  of  the  English  Government,  for  we  have 
this  letter  from  the  British  Foreign  Office:  — 


250 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

Foreign  Office,  April  7,  1913. 

Sir:  — 

In  speaking  to  the  Belgian  Minister  to-day  I  said,  speak- 
ing unofficially,  that  it  had  been  brought  to  my  knowledge 
that  there  was  apprehension  in  Belgium  lest  we  should 
be  the  first  to  violate  Belgian  neutrality.  I  did  not  think 
that  this  apprehension  could  have  come  from  a  British 
source. 

The  Belgian  Minister  informed  me  that  there  had  been 
talk,  in  a  British  source  which  he  could  not  name,  of  the 
landing  of  troops  in  Belgium  by  Great  Britain,  in  order  to 
anticipate  a  possible  dispatch  of  German  troops  through 
Belgium  to  France. 

I  said  I  was  sure  that  this  Government  would  not  be  the 
first  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  and  I  did  not 
believe  that  any  British  Government  would  be  the  first  to 
do  so,  nor  would  public  opinion  here  ever  approve  of  it. 
What  we  had  to  consider,  and  it  was  a  somewhat  embar- 
rassing question,  was  what  it  would  be  desirable  and  neces- 
sary for  us,  as  one  of  the  guarantors  of  Belgian  neutrality, 
to  do  if  Belgian  neutrality  was  violated  by  any  power.  For 
us  to  be  the  first  to  violate  it  and  to  send  troops  into  Belgium 
would  be  to  give  Germany,  for  instance,  justification  for 
sending  troops  into  Belgium  also.  What  we  desired  in  the 
case  of  Belgium,  as  in  that  of  other  neutral  countries,  was 
that  their  neutrality  should  be  respected,  and  as  long  as  it 
was  not  violated  by  any  other  power  we  should  certainly  not 
send  troops  ourselves  into  their  territory. 

I  am,  etc., 

E.  Grey. 

We  have  conclusive  proof  of  the  correct  action  of  the 
Belgian  Government  in  the  statement  King  Albert 
made  in  the  "New  York  World,"  March  22,  1915:  — 

No  honest  man  could  have  acted  otherwise  than  I  did. 
Belgium  never  departed  for  an  instant  nor  in  the  slightest 
degree  from  the  strictest  neutrality,  and  Belgium  was  always 
the  loyal  friend  of  each  and  every  one  of  the  powers  that 

251 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

guaranteed  her  neutrality.  At  first,  Germany  openly  ad- 
mitted that  in  violating  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  she  was 
doing  a  wrong,  but  now,  for  the  purposes  of  a  campaign  of 
propaganda  in  neutral  countries,  an  attempt  is  being  made 
to  cast  a  slur  upon  Belgium  and  hold  her  up  to  scorn  as 
having  perfidiously  departed  from  her  neutrality  in  connec- 
tion with  the  so-called  "Anglo-Belgian  Convention"  of 
which  so  much  is  being  made. 

I  can  say  this:  No  one  in  Belgium  ever  gave  the  name  of 
"Anglo-Belgian  Conventions"  to  the  letter  of  General 
Ducarne  to  the  Minister  of  War,  detailing  the  entirely  in- 
formal conversations  with  the  British  Military  Attache,  but 
I  was  so  desirous  of  avoiding  even  the  semblance  of  any- 
thing that  might  be  construed  as  un-neutral  that  I  had  the 
matters,  of  which  it  is  now  sought  to  make  so  much,  com- 
municated to  the  German  Military  Attache  in  Brussels. 
When  the  Germans  went  through  our  archives,  they  knew 
exactly  what  they  would  find,  and  all  their  present  surprise 
and  indignation  is  assumed. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  one  can  find  from  these 
documents  any  guilt  attaching  to  Belgium.  As  to  Eng- 
land, we  not  only  have  the  letter  of  Sir  Edward  Grey, 
but  the  fact  that  for  England  to  destroy  the  guaran- 
teed neutrality  of  Belgium  would  be  very  seriously  to 
injure  her  own  interests. 

III.  Side-Lights  on  Belgian  Diplomacy,  1905  to  1914 

At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  has 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  been  more  important  to  her  in- 
terests than  were  the  neutrality  and  independence  of 
Belgium  to  the  interests  of  England  before  the  out- 
break of  the  present  war. 

In  a  semi-official  dispatch  from  Berlin,  January  16, 
1917,  Germany  answers  England  by  a  series  of  ques- 
tions.  The  last  question  is  as  follows :  — 

252 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

Why  did  the  British  Government  prohibit  the  publication 
of  reports  of  Belgian  Ministers  about  the  encircling  policy 
of  England?  Is  it  ashamed  of  its  own  actions? 

This  question  refers  to  a  publication  by  the  German 
Government  of  the  diplomatic  dispatches  from  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  for  the 
ten  years  1905  to  1914.  I  examined  this  book  in 
Germany,  and  I  have  a  copy  of  it  from  which  I  make 
some  extracts  from  the  introduction.  I  also  quote 
several  of  these  dispatches. 

Statement  by  the  German  Foreign  Office 

Among  the  sources  to  which  the  historian  will  resort,  the 
documents  which  are  herewith  presented  to  the  world  will 
rank  high.  They  consist  of  reports  made  to  the  Belgian 
Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Baron  de  Favereau  and  M. 
Davignon,  by  the  Belgian  Ministers  at  the  chief  European 
capitals  —  Count  de  Lalaing  at  London;  M.  A.  Leghait  and 
later  Baron  Guillaume  at  Paris;  Baron  Greindl  and  then 
Baron  Beyens  at  Berlin  —  from  the  year  1905  to  1914. 

The  correspondence  was  found  in  the  archives  of  the 
Belgian  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  on  the  occupation  of 
Brussels  by  German  forces. 

The  picture  which  these  Ministers  unite  in  drawing  is 
that  of  the  sinister  figure  of  England  moving  with  ever 
malevolent  purpose  among  the  courts  and  chancelleries  of 
Europe,  everywhere  fomenting  suspicions  and  inspiring 
hatred  of  the  Power  which  it  has  set  its  mind  to  destroy.  In 
the  pursuit  of  this  purpose  we  see  King  Edward  in  the  clos- 
ing days  of  his  reign  devoting  himself  to  the  dissipation  of 
the  longstanding  Anglo-French  antipathy  and  the  creation 
of  the  rapprochement  which  Lord  Lansdowne  and  Sir  Edward 
Grey  strengthened  into  an  alliance.  .  .  .  The  calendar  of  the 
years  1905-1914  is  unrolled  by  these  diplomatic  diarists,  and 
the  story  of  the  British  influence  on  French  internal  affairs 
during  the  decade,  of  British  influence  on  French  foreign 

253 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

policy  at  the  Algeciras  Conference  and  in  Morocco,  and  in 
the  successive  Balkan  crises,  is  recounted. 

That  British  foreign  policy  during  the  last  ten  years  has 
had  as  its  central  motive  the  isolation  of  Germany  is  of 
course  no  secret  either  to  diplomatists  or  to  laymen;  but  the 
extreme  degree  to  which  this  motive  ruled,  the  never-sleeping 
assiduity  with  which  it  was  pursued,  the  Machiavellian  in- 
genuity with  which  every  occasion  to  forward  it  was  taken 
advantage  of,  will  hardly  have  been  recognized  by  any  who 
have  not  perused  the  documents  in  which  these  detached 
and  disinterested  spectators  of  the  game  recorded  it  as  it 
went  forward. 

Every  report,  every  paragraph  of  every  report,  reveals 
the  fact  that  the  neutral  diplomatists  recognize  that  it  was 
the  never-forgotten  aim  of  Great  Britain  to  raise  up  enemies 
to  Germany  on  every  hand,  to  frustrate  her  every  endeavor, 
no  matter  how  innocent  of  harm  to  others;  and  that  in  pur- 
suance of  this  aim  England  never  hesitated  to  jeopardize  the 
peace  of  Europe. 

Such  is  the  story  which  these  pages  spread  before  us. 

It  is  away  back  in  1905  (September  23)  that  we  find  the 
Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin,  Baron  Greindl,  writing  in  this 
wise: — 

The  unheard-of  efforts  made  by  the  English  press  to 
prevent  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  Moroccan  affair 
and  the  probably  insincere  credulity  with  which  it 
receives  all  calumnies  aimed  at  the  German  policy  show 
how  ready  public  opinion  in  Great  Britain  is  to  acclaim 
any  combination  hostile  to  Germany. 

As  to  the  attitude  of  Germany,  writing  on  the  last  day  of 
the  year  1905,  the  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin  tells  his  home 
office  that  it  has  been  "  the  highest  ambition  of  His  Majesty 
(the  German  Emperor)  to  preserve  peace  during  his  entire 
reign." 

The  peculiar  tactics  historically  characteristic  of  English 
foreign  policy  are  recognized  in  the  memorandum  of 
October  27.  1905,  by  the  Belgian  Minister  in  Berlin  in  these 
words: — ♦ 

254 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

An  insurmountable  mistrust  of  England  is  prevalent 
here.  A  great  number  of  Germans  are  convinced  that 
England  is  either  seeking  allies  for  an  attack  against 
Germany,  or,  which  would  be  more  in  conformity  with 
the  British  traditions,  is  endeavoring  to  stir  up  a  war 
on  the  Continent  in  which  she  would  not  take  part  and 
of  which  she  would  reap  the  benefit. 

In  the  same  memorandum  the  Minister  goes  on:  — 

While  England  is  safe  from  attacks,  Germany,  on  the 
contrary,  is  very  vulnerable.  In  attacking  Germany 
simply  to  annihilate  a  rival,  England  would  only  follow 
her  old  tracks.  She  destroyed  successfully  the  Dutch 
fleet  in  accord  with  Louis  XIV,  subsequently  the 
French  fleet,  and,  finally,  even  the  Danish  fleet,  in  the 
midst  of  peace  and  without  any  provocation,  simply 
because  it  represented  a  respectable  naval  force. 

The  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin,  expressing  his  skepticism 
regarding  the  effect  of  the  approaching  visit  of  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  to  Berlin,  writes  (June  8,  1907) :  — 

As  Count  de  Lalaing  rightly  says,  the  King  of  Eng- 
land is  personally  directing  a  policy  the  ultimate  aim  of 
which  is  the  isolation  of  Germany.  His  action  corre- 
sponds with  the  sentiments  of  the  nation,  misled  by  an 
unscrupulous  press,  the  sole  interest  of  which  consists 
in  a  large  circulation,  and  which  is  therefore  only  anx- 
ious to  flatter  the  passions  of  the  populace. 

Baron  Greindl's  report  to  his  Government  repeatedly 
referred  to  the  Barnardiston-Ducarne  episode;  for  instance, 
writing  April  18,  1907,  he  says:  — 

This  zeal  in  uniting  Powers  whom  no  one  is  menacing 
for  alleged  purposes  of  defense,  can  with  good  reason 
seem  suspicious.  The  offer  of  100,000  men  made  by  the 
King  of  England  to  M.  Delcasse  cannot  be  forgotten 
in  Berlin.  We  ourselves  have  to  record  the  singular 
overtures  made  by  Colonel  Barnardiston  to  General 
Ducarne,  and  who  knows  if  there  have  not  been  other 

255 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

similar  intrigues  which  have  not  come  to  our  know- 
ledge? 

Reporting  to  his  Government  February  10,  1907,  M. 
Leghait,  Belgian  Minister  at  Paris,  writes :  — 

France,  who  sincerely  desires  to  maintain  peace  and 
to  improve  her  relations  with  Germany,  will  have  to 
make  great  efforts  of  diplomacy  if  she  wishes  to  demon- 
strate at  Berlin  that  the  Entente  Cordiale  need  not  be 
obnoxious  to  Germany  and  that  it  was  not  concluded 
to  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  her  expansion. 

It  is  realized  here  so  well  that  France  is  in  a  delicate 
situation  and  has  been  dragged  into  a  dangerous  game, 
that  all  the  semi-official  organs  and  other  serious  papers 
are  keeping  silent  on  this  occasion  and  that  none  of 
them  dares  to  show  pleasure  in  this  new  demonstration 
of  English  friendship. 

In  view  of  the  unspeakable  calamities  which  have  fallen 
upon  the  French  Republic  and  the  Kingdom  of  Belgium  in 
consequence  of  her  implication  in  the  British  plot  against 
Germany,  it  is  sadly  interesting  to  note  that  as  early  as 
June  17,  1907,  the  Belgian  Minister  to  France,  M.  Leghait, 
was  writing  solemn  warnings  to  his  Government  in  this 
fashion:  — 

England  is  preparing  her  ground  admirably,  but  has 
France,  who  is  joining  her  in  her  policy,  all  the  neces- 
sary guarantees  that  she  will  not  be  the  victim  of  this 
policy  one  day?  The  uncertainty  which  prevails  in 
regard  to  this  subject  justifies  the  supposition  that 
there  exists  between  her  and  the  British  Government  a  more 
complete  agreement  than  that  of  the  Entente  Cordiale,  but 
which  will  remain  latent  until  that  day  when  events  will 
demand  that  its  stipulations  be  made  public. 

In  order  to  arm  herself  for  the  moment  against  perils 
which  are  perhaps  illusory,  or  in  order  to  strengthen 
the  position  of  the  directors  of  her  internal  policy, 
France  is  contracting  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  will  seem 
heavy  to  her  on  the  day  when  England  will  reveal  the  pur- 

25G 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

pose  for  which  she  wants  to  use  the  influences  which  she 
had  grouped  around  herself. 

These  words  were  written  seven  years  before  the  day 
which  they  prophesied  broke  in  sorrow  over  France. 

Great  Britain's  rapprochement  with  Russia  was  becoming 
a  possibility  in  1905.  As  early  as  October  14  of  that  year 
Baron  Greindl,  the  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin,  writes  to  his 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs:  — 

England  at  the  present  time  shows  no  interest  what- 
soever in  the  fate  of  Turkey,  whose  preservation  has 
for  such  a  long  time  been  the  leading  principle  of  her 
policy.  She  may  leave  Russia  a  free  hand  in  Asia  Minor. 
Such  a  combination  would,  moreover,  have  the  advan- 
tage of  embroiling  Russia  with  Germany,  whose  isolation 
is  at  present  the  principal  aim  of  the  English  policy. 

On  January  25,  1908,  we  see  Baron  Greindl  writing:  — 

The  policy  directed  by  King  Edward  VII,  under  the 
pretext  of  guarding  Europe  from  the  imaginary  German 
peril,  has  created  a  French  danger  which  is  only  too 
real,  and  which  is  a  menace  above  all  to  us  [to  Belgium]. 

The  Belgian  Minister  in  Berlin,  reporting  home  (Decem- 
ber 6,  1911),  sees  matters  precisely  as  does  his  colleague  in 
London:  — 

Everybody  in  England  and  France  considers  the 
Entente  Cordiale  as  a  defensive  and  offensive  alliance 
against  Germany.  That  is  the  character  which  the  late 
King  of  England  wanted  to  impart  to  it.  The  Entente 
Cordiale  was  founded  not  on  the  positive  basis  of  de- 
fense of  common  interests,  but  on  the  negative  basis 
of  hatred  against  the  German  Empire.  ...  It  is  the 
Entente  Cordiale  that  revived  in  France  the  idea  of  re- 
venge, which  had  already  abated  considerably.  It  is 
the  Entente  Cordiale  that  causes  the  state  of  unrest  and 
uneasiness  in  which  Europe  has  been  writhing  for  seven 
years. 

257 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Baron  Greindl  takes  up  particularly  the  suspicion  that 
England  had  had  in  preparation  a  military  expedition  on  the 
Continent.  He  refers  to  the  fact  that  Sir  Edward  Grey 
refrained  from  denying  the  truth  of  the  charges  to  this  effect, 
and  he  says :  — 

In  default  of  other  information  it  must  be  considered 
as  an  established  fact  that  the  plan  had  been  discussed 
in  London  of  aiding  France  in  a  war  with  Germany  by 
landing  an  English  corps  of  150,000  men.  There  is 
nothing  in  this  which  ought  to  surprise  us.  It  is  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  singular  proposals  which  were  made  a 
few  years  ago  to  General  Ducarne  by  Colonel  Barnard- 
iston,  as  well  as  of  the  Flushing  intrigue. 

Baron  Greindl  comments  sarcastically  on  the  fact  that:  — 

A  hue  and  cry  was  raised  because  a  German  cruiser 
had  cast  anchor  in  the  roadstead  of  Agadir,  whereas 
England  had  not  moved  a  muscle  when  watching  the 
progressing  conquest  of  Moroccan  territory  by  France 
and  Spain  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Sultan's  independ- 
ence. 

England  could  not  do  otherwise.  She  was  bound  by 
her  secret  treaty  with  France. 

So  late  as  May  8,  1914,  Baron  Guillaume,  Belgian  Min- 
ister at  Paris,  reports  that  the  three  years'  military  service 
law,  imposed  upon  the  country  by  the  military  party,  "  will 
have  to  be  given  up,  or  war  will  have  to  be  waged  before  two 
years  from  to-day  have  elapsed."  It  was  less  than  two  years, 
it  was  less  than  three  months,  before  Baron  Guillaume's 
apprehensions  were  realized. 

It  can  surely  not  be  necessary  to  dilate  upon  the  meaning 
of  the  narrative  set  forth  in  these  luminous,  but  dishearten- 
ing, pages.  These  are  not  the  words  of  German  apologists. 
They  are  the  words  of  disinterested  expert  observers  —  the 
considered  words,  though  set  down  in  the  very  midst  of 
events  as  they  pass.  They  register  the  convictions  of  five 
professional  students  of  contemporary  international  history, 

258 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

living  in  the  three  chief  capitals  of  Europe,  and  possessing 
unparalleled  access  to  the  facts,  with  the  advantage  of  being 
detached  and  unprejudiced  with  regard  to  them.  And  their 
convictions  are  identical.  A  more  complete  indictment  of 
English  statesmanship  as  the  enemy  of  the  peace  of  the 
world,  a  deliberate  and  persistent  conspirator  against  an 
unoffending  neighbor,  could  not  possibly  be  framed.  The 
indictment  stretches  throughout  the  nine  years.  There  are 
no  palliations,  no  extenuations.  It  is  a  record  of  a  monstrous 
crime. 

These  quotations  are  made  from  the  article  written 
by  the  officials  of  the  German  Foreign  Office,  introduc- 
tory to  the  dispatches  sent  by  the  Belgian  Ministers  to 
England,  France,  and  Germany,  the  only  three  coun- 
tries whose  relations  concerned  Belgium  deeply.  No 
German  publicist  —  Rohrbach,  Schiemann,  Revent- 
low  —  could  have  written  anything  more  bitterly 
hostile  to  England  than  these  dispatches,  or  more 
friendly  to  Germany.  Is  it  not  a  fair  assumption  that 
if  the  Belgian  Ministers  from  1905  to  1914  possessed 
such  sentiments,  the  Belgian  Government  could  not 
have  been  hostile  to  these  sentiments  and  have  re- 
tained these  Ministers?  One  may  fairly  assume  that 
the  Belgian  Government  had  not  been  unfriendly  to 
Germany,  nor  unduly  friendly  to  England. 

It  is  also  interesting  in  this  connection  that  the  Bel- 
gian King  had  visited  Vienna  and  Berlin,  and  had  not 
yet  visited  London.  Further,  it  was  noticed  at  the 
Hague  Conferences  that  Belgium  was  on  the  side  of 
Germany,  in  opposition  to  most  of  the  Powers,  in 
regard  to  the  question  of  treaties  of  arbitration. 

The  feeling  of  Belgium  in  regard  to  the  military  con- 
versations is  expressed  by  Baron  Beyens,  Belgian 
Minister  at  Berlin,  on  April  24,  1914:  — 

259 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

For  us,  the  most  interesting  point  in  connection  with  the 
visit  of  the  Sovereigns  of  Great  Britain  is  to  know  whether 
the  British  Government  would  be  as  inclined  to-day,  as  three 
years  ago,  to  range  itself  by  the  side  of  France  in  the  case  of  a 
conflict  of  the  latter  with  Germany;  we  have  had  the  proof 
that  a  cooperation  of  the  British  army  and  the  dispatching 
of  an  expeditionary  corps  to  the  Continent  have  been  con- 
sidered by  the  military  authorities  of  the  two  Governments 
[England  and  France]. 

Would  it  be  the  same  to-day,  and  should  we  still  have  to 
fear  the  entry  of  British  soldiers  into  Belgium  in  order  to 
help  us  defend  our  neutrality  by  first  compromising  it? 

We  have,  however,  the  most  convincing  proof  of 
the  correctness  of  Belgium's  attitude  in  a  dispatch 
from  Baron  Greindl,  the  Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin 
(who  preceded  Baron  Beyens),  dated  Berlin,  Decem- 
ber 23,  1911:  — 

Evidently  the  project  of  an  outflanking  movement  from 
the  north  forms  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  Entente  Cordiale. 
If  that  were  not  the  case,  then  the  plan  of  fortifying  Flushing 
would  not  have  called  forth  such  an  outburst  in  Paris  and 
London.  The  reason  why  they  wished  that  the  Scheldt 
should  remain  unfortified  was  hardly  concealed  by  them. 
Their  aim  was  to  be  able  to  transport  an  English  garrison, 
unhindered,  to  Antwerp,  which  means  to  establish  in  our 
country  a  basis  of  operation  [sic]  for  an  offensive  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Lower  Rhine  and  Westphalia,  and  then  to  make 
us  throw  our  lot  in  with  them,  which  would  not  be  difficult, 
for,  after  the  surrender  of  our  national  center  of  refuge,  we 
would,  through  our  own  fault,  have  renounced  every  possi- 
bility of  opposing  the  demands  of  our  doubtful  protectors, 
after  having  been  so  unwise  as  to  permit  their  entrance  into 
our  country.  Colonel  Barnardiston's  announcements  at  the 
time  of  the  conclusion  of  the  Entente  Cordiale,  which  were 
just  as  perfidious  as  they  were  nai've,  have  shown  us  plainly 
the  true  meaning  of  things.  When  it  became  evident  that 
we  would  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  frightened  by  thepre- 

260 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

tended  danger  of  the  closing  of  the  Scheldt,  the  plan  was  not 
entirely  abandoned,  but  modified  in  so  far  as  the  British 
army  was  not  to  land  on  the  Belgian  coast,  but  at  the  nearest 
French  harbors. 

The  revelations  of  Captain  Faber,  which  were  denied  as 
little  as  the  newspaper  reports  by  which  they  were  con- 
firmed or  completed  in  several  respects,  also  testify  to  this. 
This  British  army,  at  Calais  and  Dunkirk,  would  by  no 
means  march  along  our  frontier  to  Longwy  in  order  to  reach 
Germany.  It  would  directly  invade  Belgium  from  the  north- 
west. That  would  give  it  the  advantage  of  being  able  to 
begin  operations  immediately,  to  encounter  the  Belgian 
army  in  a  region  where  we  could  not  depend  on  any  fortress, 
in  case  we  wanted  to  risk  a  battle.  Moreover,  that  would 
make  it  possible  for  it  to  occupy  provinces  rich  in  all  kinds 
of  resources,  and,  at  any  rate,  to  prevent  our  mobilization  or 
only  to  permit  it  after  we  had  formally  pledged  ourselves  to 
carry  on  our  mobilization  to  the  exclusive  advantage  of 
England  and  her  allies. 

It  is  therefore  of  necessity  to  prepare  a  plan  of  battle  for 
the  Belgian  army,  also,  for  that  possibility.  This  is  necessary 
in  the  interest  of  our  military  defense,  as  well  as  for  the  sake 
of  the  direction  of  our  foreign  policy,  in  case  of  war  between 
Germany  and  France. 

If  there  had  been  an  agreement  between  Belgium 
and  the  Entente  Powers,  would  this  extremely  able 
minister  have  been  ignorant  of  it? 

While  these  dispatches,  covering  the  period  from  the 
Moroccan  crisis  of  1905  through  the  Bosnian  crisis  and 
the  other  international  troubles  of  Europe  up  to  1914, 
evince  a  great  friendliness  to  Germany  and  a  great 
hostility  to  England  and  France,  there  is  nothing  to  in- 
dicate that  Belgium  overstepped  the  strictest  bounds 
of  absolute  neutrality  in  favor  of  Germany  as  against 
England  and  France. 

In  fact,  Baron  Beyens,  referring  to  the  period  just 

261 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

before  the  war    (in  "Germany  Before  The  War"), 
writes :  — 

In  the  spring  of  1914,  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary, 
who  both  had  old  scores  to  pay  off  in  connection  with 
Morocco  and  the  Balkans  respectively,  reached  the  zenith  of 
their  military  preparations.  The  German  army  was  ready  at 
all  points,  and  the  Austro-Hungarian  army  was  as  ready  as 
it  can  ever  be.  The  airships  and  aeroplanes  were  only  wait- 
ing for  the  signal  to  leave  their  sheds;  the  heavy  guns,  an 
array  of  monsters,  were  already  marshaled  in  the  artillery 
parks.  All  that  was  wanted  was  a  pretext.  As  Dr.  Schiemann 
had  pointed  out  in  the  "  Kreuz  Zeitung,"  however,  Germany 
could  have  a  war  with  France  merely  by  letting  Austria  fly 
at  Servians  throat.  Prophetic  words,  which  a  political  crime 
was  to  bear  out,  while  at  the  same  time  it  was  to  give  Wil- 
liam II  the  pretext  he  required  for  appearing  before  Europe 
as  an  instrument  of  justice  and  vengeance! 

And  again,  Baron  Beyens  writes:  — 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Cardiff  on  the  2d  of  October,  1914, 
the  Prime  Minister  made  a  most  interesting  disclosure  re- 
garding the  1912  attempt  to  arrive  at  an  understanding. 
"  We  said,  and  we  communicated  this  to  the  Berlin  Govern- 
ment: 'Britain  declares  that  she  will  neither  make  nor  join 
in  any  unprovoked  attack  upon  Germany.  Aggression  upon 
Germany  is  not  the  subject  and  forms  no  part  of  any  treaty, 
understanding,  or  combination  to  which  Britain  is  now  a 
party,  nor  will  she  become  a  party  to  anything  that  has  such 
an  object.' "  But  that,  Mr.  Asquith  went  on  to  say,  was 
not  enough  for  German  statesmanship.  "They  wanted  us  to 
go  further.  They  asked  us  to  pledge  ourselves  absolutely  to 
neutrality  in  the  event  of  Germany's  being  engaged  in  war, 
and  this,  mind  you,  at  a  time  when  Germany  was  enor- 
mously increasing  both  her  aggressive  and  defensive  re- 
sources, and  especially  upon  the  sea.  They  asked  us,  to  put 
it  quite  plainly,  for  a  free  hand,  so  far  as  we  were  concerned, 
when  they  selected  the  opportunity  to  overbear  and  domi- 

262 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF   BELGIUM 

nate  the  European  world.  To  such  a  demand  but  one  answer 
was  possible,  and  we  gave  that  answer." 

From  May,  1907,  onward  the  Foreign  Minister  of 
Belgium  was  and  is  to-day  M.  Davignon.  He  was  the 
Belgian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  during  the  seven 
years  1907  to  1914,  when  the  Belgian  Ministers  at 
Paris,  London,  and  Berlin  were  writing  the  dispatches 
found  by  the  German  authorities  in  the  archives  of  the 
Belgian  Government  at  Brussels  and  which  were  pub- 
lished by  the  Imperial  German  Foreign  Office,  with  the 
introduction  from  which  I  have  drawn  so  copiously. 

It  is  not  likely  that  M.  Davignon  would  have  retained 
these  intensely  pro-German  Ministers  if  he  had  been 
pro-English  in  his  sympathies.  We  will  now  consider 
his  dispatches  during  the  critical  week  before  Belgium 
was  invaded.  In  accordance  with  my  policy  in  com- 
piling this  book,  I  prefer  to  quote  documents  fully, 
rather  than  to  summarize  them  in  my  own  words.  The 
reader  is  entitled  to  solid  ground  in  studying  the  ques- 
tion of  Belgium's  neutrality,  which  is  so  basic  in  appor- 
tioning the  responsibility  for  the  tragedy  of  Belgium. 

On  July  31,  M.  Davignon  said:  — 

We  have  also  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  attitude  of  the 
German  Government  will  be  tlie  same  as  that  of  the  Government 
of  the  French  Republic. 

I  quote  his  dispatch  in  full :  — 

M .  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  Berlin,  Paris,  and  London 

Brussels,  July  31,  1914. 
Sir,  — 

The  French  Minister  came  to  show  me  a  telegram  from  the 
Agence  Havas  reporting  a  state  of  war  in  Germany,  and  said: 

263 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I  seize  this  opportunity  to  declare  that  no  incursion 
of  French  troops  into  Belgium  will  take  place,  even  if 
considerable  forces  are  massed  upon  the  frontiers  of 
your  country.  France  does  not  wish  to  incur  the  respon- 
sibility, so  far  as  Belgium  is  concerned,  of  taking  the 
first  hostile  act.  Instructions  in  this  sense  will  be  given 
to  the  French  authorities. 

I  thanked  M.  Klobukowski  for  his  communication,  and 
I  felt  bound  to  observe  that  we  had  always  had  the  greatest 
confidence  in  the  loyal  observance  by  both  our  neighboring 
States  of  their  engagements  towards  us.  We  have  also  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  attitude  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment will  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  Government  of  the 
French  Republic. 

From  M.  Davignon's  dispatch  of  July  31,  reporting 
a  conversation  with^the  German  Minister  at  Brussels, 
it  will  be  seen  that  he  had  received  no  hint  of  any 
change  in  Germany's  intentions :  — 

M .  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  Berlin,  London,  and  Paris 

Brussels,  July  81,  191%. 

Sir,  — 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation  which  the  Secretary- 
General  of  my  Department  had  with  Herr  von  Below  this 
morning,  he  explained  to  the  German  Minister  the  scope  of 
the  military  measures  which  we  had  taken,  and  said  to  him 
that  they  were  a  consequence  of  our  desire  to  fulfill  our  inter- 
national obligations,  and  that  they  in  no  wise  implied  an 
attitude  of  distrust  towards  our  neighbors. 

The  Secretary-General  then  asked  the  German  Minister 
if  he  knew  of  the  conversation  which  he  had  had  with  his 
predecessor,  Herr  von  Flotow,  and  of  the  reply  which  the 
Imperial  Chancellor  had  instructed  the  latter  to  give. 

The  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs  had  suggested  that  a 
declaration  in  the  German  Parliament  during  a  debate  on 

264 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

foreign  affairs  would  serve  to  calm  public  opinion,  and  to 
dispel  the  mistrust  which  was  so  regrettable  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  relations  between  the  two  countries. 

Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  replied  that  he  had  fully 
appreciated  the  feelings  which  had  inspired  our  representa- 
tions. He  declared  that  Germany  had  no  intention  of  violat- 
ing Belgian  neutrality,  but  he  considered  that  in  making 
a  public  declaration  Germany  would  weaken  her  military 
position  in  regard  to  France,  who,  secured  on  the  northern 
side,  would  concentrate  all  her  energies  on  the  east. 

Baron  von  der  Elst,  continuing,  said  that  he  perfectly 
understood  the  objections  raised  by  Herr  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  to  the  proposed  public  declaration,  and  he  recalled 
the  fact  that  since  then,  in  1913,  Herr  von  Jagow  had  made 
reassuring  declarations  to  the  Budget  Commission  of  the 
Reichstag  respecting  the  maintenance  of  Belgian  neutrality. 

Herr  von  Below  replied  that  he  knew  of  the  conversation 
with  Herr  von  Flotow,  and  that  he  was  certain  that  the  sen- 
timents expressed  at  that  time  had  not  changed.  j 

After  England  had  sent  an  identical  note  to  the 
Governments  of  France  and  Germany  as  to  their  policy 
in  regard  to  Belgian  neutrality,  M.  Davignon  sent  the 
following  dispatch  to  the  Belgian  Ministers :  — 

M .  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  the 
Belgian  Ministers  at  Berlin,  Paris,  and  London 

Brussels,  August  1,  191b. 

Sir,  — 

I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  the  French  Minister 
has  made  the  following  verbal  communication  to  me :  — 

I  am  authorized  to  declare  that,  in  the  event  of  an 
international  war,  the  French  Government,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  declarations  they  have  always  made,  will 
respect  the  neutrality  of  Belgium.  In  the  event  of  this 
neutrality  not  being  respected  by  another  power,  the 
French  Government,  to  secure  their  own  defense,  might 
find  it  necessary  to  modify  their  attitude. 

265 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I  thanked  His  Excellency  and  added  that  we  on  our  side 
had  taken  without  delay  all  the  measures  necessary  to  insure 
that  our  independence  and  our  frontiers  should  be  respected. 

On  the  same  day  the  British  Minister  at  Brussels 
sent  this  dispatch  to  Sir  Edward  Grey :  — 

(Telegraphic.)  Brussels,  August  1,  191%. 

The  instructions  conveyed  in  your  telegram  of  yesterday 
have  been  acted  upon. 

Belgium  expects  and  desires  that  other  powers  will  ob- 
serve and  uphold  her  neutrality,  which  she  intends  to 
maintain  to  the  utmost  of  her  power.  In  so  informing  me, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  said  that,  in  the  event  of  the  vio- 
lation of  the  neutrality  of  their  territory,  they  believed  that 
they  were  in  a  position  to  defend  themselves  against  intru- 
sion. The  relations  between  Belgium  and  her  neighbors  were 
excellent,  and  there  was  no  reason  to  suspect  their  inten- 
tions; but  he  thought  it  well,  nevertheless,  to  be  prepared 
against  emergencies. 

On  August  2,  the  German  Minister  at  Brussels  still 
believed  that  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  would  be  re- 
spected, as  is  seen  from  the  following  dispatch :  — 

M .  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  Belgian 
Ministers  at  Paris,  Berlin,  London,  Vienna,  and  St. 
Petersburg 

Brussels,  August  2,  191b. 
Sir,  — 

I  was  careful  to  warn  the  German  Minister  through  M.  de 
Bassompierre  that  an  announcement  in  the  Brussels  press 
by  M.  Klobukowski,  French  Minister,  would  make  public 
the  formal  declaration  which  the  latter  had  made  to  me  on 
the  1st  August.  When  I  next  met  Herr  von  Below  he 
thanked  me  for  this  attention,  and  added  that  up  to  the 
present  he  had  not  been  instructed  to  make  us  an  official 
communication,  but  that  we  knew  his  personal  opinion  as 
to  the  feelings  of  security  which  we  had  the  right  to  enter- 

266 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

tain  towards  our  eastern  neighbors.  I  at  once  replied  that  all 
that  we  knew  of  their  intentions,  as  indicated  in  numerous 
previous  conversations,  did  not  allow  us  to  doubt  their  per- 
fect correctness  towards  Belgium.  I  added,  however,  that 
we  should  attach  the  greatest  importance  to  the  possession 
of  a  formal  declaration,  which  the  Belgian  nation  would 
hear  of  with  joy  and  gratitude. 

IV.  The  Tragic  Prelude 

On  August  2,  at  7  p.m.,  the  German  Minister  at 
Brussels  handed  the  following  note  to  M.  Davignon. 
It  was  to  be  answered  in  twelve  hours :  — 

Reliable  information  has  been  received  by  the  German 
Government  to  the  effect  that  French  forces  intend  to 
march  on  the  line  of  the  Meuse  by  Givet  and  Namur. 
This  information  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  intention  of 
France  to  march  through  Belgian  territory  against  Ger- 
many. 

The  German  Government  cannot  but  fear  that  Belgium, 
in  spite  of  the  utmost  good-will,  will  be  unable,  without 
assistance,  to  repel  so  considerable  a  French  invasion  with 
sufficient  prospect  of  success  to  afford  an  adequate  guaran- 
tee against  danger  to  Germany.  It  is  essential  for  the  self- 
defense  of  Germany  that  she  should  anticipate  any  such 
hostile  attack.  The  German  Government  would,  however, 
feel  the  deepest  regret  if  Belgium  regarded  as  an  act  of  hos- 
tility against  herself  the  fact  that  the  measures  of  Germany's 
opponents  force  Germany,  for  her  own  protection,  to  enter 
Belgian  territory. 

In  order  to  exclude  any  possibility  of  misunderstanding, 
the  German  Government  makes  the  following  declaration: 

1.  Germany  has  in  view  no  act  of  hostility  against  Bel- 
gium. In  the  event  of  Belgium  being  prepared  in  the  coming 
war  to  maintain  an  attitude  of  friendly  neutrality  towards 
Germany,  the  German  Government  binds  itself,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  peace,  to  guarantee  the  possessions  and  independ- 
ence of  the  Belgian  Kingdom  in  full. 

267 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

2.  Germany  undertakes,  under  the  above-mentioned  con- 
dition, to  evacuate  Belgian  territory  on  the  conclusion  of 
peace. 

3.  If  Belgium  adopts  a  friendly  attitude,  Germany  is  pre- 
pared, in  cooperation  with  the  Belgian  authorities,  to  pur- 
chase all  necessaries  for  her  troops  against  a  cash  payment, 
and  to  pay  an  indemnity  for  any  damage  that  may  have 
been  caused  by  German  troops. 

4.  Should  Belgium  oppose  the  German  troops,  and  in 
particular  should  she  throw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their 
march  by  resistance  of  the  fortresses  on  the  Meuse,  or  by 
destroying  railways,  roads,  tunnels,  or  other  similar  works, 
Germany  will,  to  her  regret,  be  compelled  to  consider  Bel- 
gium as  an  enemy. 

In  this  event,  Germany  can  undertake  no  obligations  to- 
wards Belgium,  but  the  eventual  adjustment  of  the  relations 
between  the  two  states  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of  arms. 

The  German  Government,  however,  entertains  the  dis- 
tinct hope  that  this  eventuality  will  not  occur,  and  that  the 
Belgian  Government  will  know  how  to  take  the  necessary 
measures  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  incidents  such  as 
those  mentioned.  In  this  case  the  friendly  ties  which  bind 
the  two  neighboring  states  will  grow  stronger  and  more 
enduring. 

In  all  my  study  of  diplomatic  documents,  I  have 
seen  none  so  brutal  as  this  note.  It  goes  far  beyond  the 
Austrian  note  to  Servia  that  caused  the  war.  Belgium 
was  forbidden  to  defend  herself.  Such  defensive  mea- 
sures as  the  destruction  of  bridges,  tunnels,  roads, 
etc.,  are  specifically  forbidden. 

These  are  the  agreements  of  all  nations  as  to  neutral 
territory :  — 

1.  The  territory  of  neutral  powers  is  inviolable. 

2.  Belligerents  are  forbidden  to  move  troops  or  convoys 
of  either  munitions  of  war  or  supplies  across  the  terri- 
tory of  a  neutral  power. 

268 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

10.  The  fact  of  a  neutral  power  resisting,  even  by  force, 
attempts  to  violate  its  neutrality  cannot  be  regarded 
as  a  hostile  act. 

One  must  render  homage  to  the  reply  of  the  Belgian 
Government  to  the  peremptory  demand  of  Germany. 
Here  it  is  in  full :  — 

Note  communicated  by  M.  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  to  Herr  von  Below  Saleske,  German 
Minister 

Brussels,  August  3,  19H  (7  a.m.). 

The  German  Government  stated  in  their  note  of  the  2d 
August,  1914,  that  according  to  reliable  information  French 
forces  intended  to  march  on  the  Meuse  via  Givet,  and 
Namur,  and  that  Belgium,  in  spite  of  the  best  intentions, 
would  not  be  in  a  position  to  repulse,  without  assistance,  an 
advance  of  French  troops. 

The  German  Government,  therefore,  considered  them- 
selves compelled  to  anticipate  this  attack  and  to  violate 
Belgian  territory.  In  these  circumstances,  Germany  pro- 
posed to  the  Belgian  Government  to  adopt  a  friendly  atti- 
tude towards  her,  and  undertook,  on  the  conclusion  of 
peace,  to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  the  Kingdom  and  its 
possessions  to  their  full  extent.  The  note  added  that  if 
Belgium  put  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  advance  of  Ger- 
man troops,  Germany  would  be  compelled  to  consider  her 
as  an  enemy,  and  to  leave  the  ultimate  adjustment  of  the 
relations  between  the  two  States  to  the  decision  of  arms. 

This  note  has  made  a  deep  and  painful  impression  upon 
the  Belgian  Government. 

The  intentions  attributed  to  France  by  Germany  are  in 
contradiction  to  the  formal  declarations  made  to  us  on 
August  1,  in  the  name  of  the  French  Government. 

Moreover,  if,  contrary  to  our  expectation,  Belgian  neu- 
trality should  be  violated  by  France,  Belgium  intends  to 
fulfill  her  international  obligations  and  the  Belgian  army 
would  offer  the  most  vigorous  resistance  to  the  invader. 

269 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  treaties  of  1839,  confirmed  by  the  treaties  of  1870, 
vouch  for  the  independence  and  neutrality  of  Belgium  under 
the  guarantee  of  the  powers,  and  notably  of  the  Government 
of  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Prussia. 

Belgium  has  always  been  faithful  to  her  international 
obligations,  she  has  carried  out  her  duties  in  a  spirit  of  loyal 
impartiality,  and  she  has  left  nothing  undone  to  maintain 
and  enforce  respect  for  her  neutrality. 

The  attack  upon  her  independence  with  which  the  Ger- 
man Government  threaten  her  constitutes  a  flagrant  viola- 
tion of  international  law.  No  strategic  interest  justifies  such 
a  violation  of  law. 

The  Belgian  Government,  if  they  were  to  accept  the  pro- 
posals submitted  to  them,  would  sacrifice  the  honor  of  the 
nation  and  betray  their  duty  towards  Europe. 

Conscious  of  the  part  which  Belgium  has  played  for  more 
than  eighty  years  in  the  civilization  of  the  world,  they  refuse 
to  believe  that  the  independence  of  Belgium  can  only  be 
preserved  at  the  price  of  the  violation  of  her  neutrality. 

If  this  hope  is  disappointed  the  Belgian  Government  are 
firmly  resolved  to  repel,  by  all  the  means  in  their  power, 
every  attack  upon  their  rights. 

On  the  3d  of  August  the  Belgian  Government 
showed  its  very  correct  attitude  by  asking  the  diplo- 
matic help  of  Great  Britain,  as  is  seen  in  the  appeal 
from  King  Albert  to  King  George.  This  is  the  King's 
appeal :  — 

His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Belgians  to  His  Majesty 

King  George 

(Telegram.)  Brussels,  August  3,  191h- 

Remembering  the  numerous  proofs  of  Your  Majesty's 
friendship  and  that  of  your  predecessor,  and  the  friendly 
attitude  of  England  in  1870  and  the  proof  of  friendship  you 
have  just  given  us  again,  I  make  a  supreme  appeal  to  the 
diplomatic  intervention  of  Your  Majesty's  Government  to 
safeguard  the  integrity  of  Belgium. 

270 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

Finally,  on  August  4,  Belgium,  having  been  invaded, 
appeals  to  the  guarantors  in  the  following  dispatch :  — 

M.  Davignon,  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  British, 
French,  and  Russian  Ministers  at  Brussels 

Brussels,  August  b>  191b. 

Sir,  — 

The  Belgian  Government  regret  to  have  to  announce  to 
Your  Excellency  that  this  morning  the  armed  forces  of 
Germany  entered  Belgian  territory  in  violation  of  treaty 
engagements. 

The  Belgian  Government  are  firmly  determined  to  resist 
by  all  the  means  in  their  power. 

Belgium  appeals  to  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Russia  to 
cooperate  as  guaranteeing  powers  in  the  defense  of  her 
territory. 

There  should  be  concerted  and  joint  action,  to  oppose  the 
forcible  measures  taken  by  Germany  against  Belgium,  and 
at  the  same  time,  to  guarantee  the  future  maintenance  of 
the  independence  and  integrity  of  Belgium. 

Belgium  is  happy  to  be  able  to  declare  that  she  will  under- 
take the  defense  of  her  fortified  places. 

Let  us  now  consider  Germany's  course.  When  asked 
by  the  British  Government  on  July  31, 1914,  the  reply 
was  as  follows :  — 

From  Sir  Edward  Goschen,  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  to 

Sir  Edward  Grey 

(Telegraphic.)  Berlin,  July  31,  191b- 

Neutrality  of  Belgium,  referred  to  in  your  telegram  of  31st 
July  to  Sir  F.  Bertie. 

I  have  seen  Secretary  of  State,  who  informs  me  that  he 
must  consult  the  Emperor  and  the  Chancellor  before  he 
could  possibly  answer.  I  gathered  from  what  he  said  that  he 
thought  any  reply  they  might  give  could  not  but  disclose  a 
certain  amount  of  their  plan  of  campaign  in  the  event  of 

271 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

war  ensuing,  and  he  was  therefore  very  doubtful  whether 
they  would  return  any  answer  at  all.  His  Excellency,  never- 
theless, took  note  of  your  request. 

In  1911,  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  refused  to  make  a 
public  assurance  to  Belgium  as  to  Germany's  inten- 
tions in  case  of  war,  on  the  ground  that  it  might  reveal 
the  German  plan  of  campaign.  He,  however,  assured 
the  Belgian  Government  privately  that  Germany 
would  not  violate  her  neutrality. 

Two  points  here  are  worth  considering;  first,  that 
Germany  was  willing  to  take  advantage  to  herself  by 
the  threat  of  committing  a  great  crime,  and  secondly, 
that  the  Belgian  Government  was  certainly  not  pro- 
English  in  accepting  this  private  promise. 

Baron  Beyens,  in  "Germany  Before  the  War," 
says : — 

Very  vague,  too,  was  the  language  used  by  Herr  von 
Kiderlen-Wachter  in  1912.  Scarcely  had  I  taken  up  my  post 
in  Berlin  before  he  complained  to  me  about  the  excitement 
shown  in  Belgium  during  the  Agadir  crisis.  As  a  mere  meas- 
ure of  precaution,  we  had  put  our  fortresses  into  a  state  of 
defense.  "There  was  no  reason,"  the  Foreign  Secretary 
observed  to  me,  "  to  fear  that  Germany  would  violate  your 
neutrality  or  that  of  your  Dutch  neighbors."  Fine  words, 
but  nothing  more! 

A  year  later,  on  April  29, 1913,  Herr  von  Jagow,  urged  by 
a  Socialist,  at  a  Reichstag  Committee,  to  explain  himself  on 
the  subject  of  Belgian  neutrality,  curtly  replied  that  this 
question  was  determined  by  international  agreements,  and 
that  Germany  would  respect  those  agreements.  He  obstin- 
ately refused  to  say  any  more  to  another  Socialist  member, 
who  was  not  satisfied  with  this  summary  answer. 

Evidently  the  German  Government  had  been  con- 
sidering the  invasion  of  Belgium,  since  as  early  as 

272 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

August  1,  1914,  Prince  Lichnowsky,  the  German 
Ambassador  in  London,  asked  Sir  Edward  Grey  if 
England  would  remain  neutral  if  Germany  promised 
not  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Belgium. 

As  to  Germany's  allegations  in  regard  to  France's 
plans  for  violating  Belgian  neutrality,  the  French 
course  of  campaign  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  does 
not  justify  such  a  statement.  France  had  massed  her 
troops  opposite  the  German  frontier,  and  when  the 
German  forces  swarmed  through  Belgium,  she  was 
obliged  to  rush  troops  to  meet  the  invasion  from  that 
quarter.  An  immense  number  of  railway  trains  was 
pressed  into  service  for  this  purpose,  and  there  was 
great  danger  of  the  communications  being  cut.  As  it 
was,  France  was  able  to  make  but  slight  resistance. 
Considering  the  splendid  railway  service  that  Ger- 
many possessed,  enabling  her  to  throw  her  troops  on 
the  Belgian  frontier,  it  would  seem  that  France  could 
hardly  have  contemplated  invading  Germany  through 
Belgium.  And  in  fact  she  did  not  send  sufficient 
troops  even  to  protect  her  own  Belgian  frontier,  much 
less  enough  to  enable  her  to  take  the  offensive  through 
Belgium.  It  was  three  weeks  before  France  was  able 
to  rearrange  her  plan  of  campaign  so  as  to  meet  the 
German  armies. 

The  German  Government  has  thus  far  produced  no 
proof  that  either  France  or  Belgium  violated  the  lat- 
ter's  neutrality. 

The  German  plan  of  campaign  was  simple,  and  had 
been  concealed  so  thoroughly  that  the  concealment 
constitutes  an  extraordinary  achievement.  Germany's 
plan  was  to  contain  the  French  armies  on  the  French 
frontier,  and  rush  her  main  forces  through  Belgium 

273 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  Luxemburg,  make  a  gigantic  enveloping  move- 
ment, surround  the  French  armies  and  cut  off  their 
supplies,  and  thus  achieve  a  second  Sedan  on  a  gi- 
gantic scale. 

Sir  Edward  Goschen,  the  British  Ambassador  at 
Berlin,  was  told  by  Von  Jagow,  Secretary  of  State,  on 
August  1 :  — 

Russia  had  said  that  her  mobilization  did  not  necessarily 
imply  war,  and  that  she  could  perfectly  well  remain  mobilized 
for  months  without  making  war.  This  was  not  the  case  with 
Germany.  She  had  the  speed  and  Russia  had  the  numbers, 
and  the  safety  of  the  German  Empire  forbade  that  Germany 
should  allow  Russia  time  to  bring  up  masses  of  troops  from 
all  parts  of  her  wide  dominions. 

And  on  August  4,  Von  Jagow  said :  — 

They  had  to  advance  into  France  by  the  quickest  and 
easiest  way,  so  as  to  be  able  to  get  well  ahead  with  their 
operations  and  endeavor  to  strike  some  decisive  blow  as 
early  as  possible.  It  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death  for  them, 
as,  if  they  had  gone  by  the  more  southern  route,  they  could 
not  have  hoped,  in  view  of  the  paucity  of  roads  and  the 
strength  of  the  fortresses,  to  get  through  without  formid- 
able opposition  entailing  great  loss  of  time.  This  loss  of  time 
would  have  meant  time  gained  by  the  Russians  for  bringing 
up  their  troops  to  the  German  frontier.  Rapidity  of  action 
was  the  great  German  asset,  while  that  of  Russia  was  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  troops. 

On  the  same  day  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
German  Minister  at  Brussels  made  the  following  com- 
munication to  M.  Davignon :  — 

In  accordance  with  my  instructions,  I  have  the  honor  to 
inform  Your  Excellency  that  in  consequence  of  the  refusal 
of  the  Belgian  Government  to  entertain  the  well-intentioned 
proposals  made  to  it  by  the  German  Government,  the  latter, 

274 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

to  its  deep  regret,  finds  itself  compelled  to  take  —  if  neces- 
sary by  force  of  arms  —  those  measures  of  defense  already 
designated  as  indispensable,  in  view  of  the  menace  of 
France. 

This  meant  war,  and  the  German  Minister  to  Bel- 
gium received  his  passports. 

King  Albert's  address  to  the  Belgian  Parliament  on 
August  4,  is  as  follows :  — 

Never  since  1830  has  a  graver  hour  sounded  for  Belgium. 
The  force  of  our  right  and  the  necessity  for  Europe  of  our 
autonomous  existence  make  us  still  hope  that  the  events 
which  we  fear  will  not  take  place;  but  if  it  is  necessary  to 
resist  the  invasion  of  our  soil,  duty  will  find  us  armed  and 
decided  upon  the  greatest  sacrifices! 

From  this  moment  our  youth  will  have  risen  to  defend 
our  fatherland  against  the  danger.  A  single  duty  is  imposed 
on  our  will :  a  determined  resistance,  courage,  and  unity. 

Our  enthusiasm  is  shown  by  our  irreproachable  mobiliza- 
tion and  by  the  multitude  of  our  volunteers. 

The  moment  for  action  is  here.  1  have  called  you  to- 
gether to  allow  the  Chambers  to  associate  themselves  in  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  country.  You  will  find  a  way  to  pass  all 
these  measures  at  once.  You  are  all  decided  to  preserve  in- 
tact the  sacred  patrimony  of  our  ancestors.  No  one  will  fail 
in  his  duty. 

The  army  is  equal  to  its  task.  The  Government  and  my- 
self have  full  confidence.  The  Government  understands  its 
responsibilities  and  will  maintain  them  till  the  end  to  safe- 
guard the  supreme  good  of  the  country.  If  the  stranger 
violates  our  territory,  he  will  find  all  Belgians  gathered  round 
their  Sovereign,  who  will  never  betray  his  constitutional  oath. 

I  have  faith  in  our  destinies.  A  country  which  defends 
itself  imposes  respect  on  all  and  does  not  perish.  God  will  be 
with  us. 

I  envy  no  one  who  can  read  these  simple,  heroic 
words  without  emotion.    I  hope  that  the  youth  of 

275 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

generations  yet  unborn  may  decide  when  they  read 
history  that  the  King  of  the  Belgians  was  most  to  be 
envied  of  the  kings  and  emperors  of  the  Great  War. 
On  August  5,  M.  Davignon  sent  to  the  Belgian 
Foreign  Ministers  in  all  lands  this  dispatch:  — 

By  the  treaty  of  April  19,  1839,  Prussia,  France,  Great 
Britain,  Austria,  and  Russia  declared  themselves  guarantors 
of  the  treaty  concluded  on  the  same  day  between  His 
Majesty  the  King  of  the  Belgians  and  His  Majesty  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands.  The  treaty  reads  "  Belgium  shall  form 
an  independent  and  perpetually  neutral  State."  Belgium 
has  fulfilled  all  her  international  obligations;  she  has  accom- 
plished her  duty  in  a  spirit  of  loyal  impartiality;  she  has 
neglected  no  effort  to  maintain  her  neutrality  and  to  cause 
that  neutrality  to  be  respected. 

In  these  circumstances  the  Belgian  Government  has 
learned  with  deep  pain  that  the  armed  forces  of  Germany, 
a  Power  guaranteeing  Belgian  neutrality,  have  entered 
Belgian  territory  in  violation  of  the  obligations  undertaken 
by  treaty. 

It  is  our  duty  to  protest  with  indignation  against  an  out- 
rage against  international  law  provoked  by  no  act  of  ours. 

The  Royal  Government  is  firmly  determined  to  repel  by 
all  the  means  in  its  power  the  attack  thus  made  upon  its 
neutrality,  and  it  recalls  the  fact  that,  in  virtue  of  Article  10 
of  the  Hague  Convention  of  1907  respecting  the  rights  and 
duties  of  neutral  powers  and  persons  in  the  case  of  war  by 
land,  if  a  neutral  power  repels,  even  by  force,  attacks  on  her 
neutrality,  such  action  cannot  be  considered  as  a  hostile  act. 

V.  Statements  of  Baron  Beyens,  Belgian  Minister 

at  Berlin 

I  will  add  to  the  story  of  the  documents  the  souve- 
nirs of  Baron  Beyens,  who  tells  first  of  the  relations  of 
the  courts  of  Germany  and  Belgium,  and  then  gives  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  terrible  days  just  before  Belgium 

276 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF   BELGIUM 

was  invaded.     In   his   book,   "Germany  Before  the 
War,"  Baron  Beyens  writes:  — 

When  the  negotiations  skillfully  conducted  at  the  opening 
of  the  new  reign  for  the  fixing  of  the  boundary  between  the 
Congo  and  German  East  Africa  were  nearing  their  end,  our 
young  Sovereign  wished  to  give  the  Emperor  a  token  of  his 
personal  feelings,  and  of  his  sincere  wish  to  keep  up  good 
relations  with  Germany  in  Africa  as  well  as  in  Europe. 
Together  with  the  Queen,  he  paid  him  an  official  visit  at  the 
close  of  1910.  I  was  in  Their  Majesties'  suite.  Their  recep- 
tion at  Potsdam  was  very  cordial  and  of  an  almost  intimate 
character,  apart  from  the  two  customary  spring  parades, 
which  our  Sovereigns  attended,  and  the  military  banquets 
that  followed.  Unfortunately,  a  slight  illness  of  the  Emper- 
or's robbed  this  visit  of  its  chief  attraction  for  spectators 
who,  like  myself,  were  eager  to  note  the  expression  of  the 
Imperial  mask. 

At  the  Court  dinner  the  Crown  Prince  read  the  speech 
prepared  by  his  father,  and  bade  the  royal  pair  welcome. 
The  most  salient  passages  were  those  alluding  to  the  wedded 
bliss  that  a  princess  of  a  German  house  had  brought  to  our 
King,  and  recalling  the  ties  of  blood  between  the  two  fami- 
lies, besides  the  historical  memories  that  linked  the  two 
countries.  King  Albert,  in  his  reply,  above  all  praised  the 
Emperor  as  a  man  of  peace,  who  had  devoted  his  life  to 
securing  the  welfare  of  his  subjects  and  the  economic  ad- 
vance of  Germany. 

The  German  Sovereigns  did  not  wait  until  the  following 
year  before  returning  the  visit.  They  came  to  Brussels  at 
the  end  of  October,  accompanied  by  their  daughter.  The 
presence  of  the  young  princess  bore  further  witness  to  their 
genuine  friendship  with  King  Albert  and  Queen  Elizabeth. 
William  II,  both  in  his  official  after-dinner  speeches  and  his 
private  conversations,  declared  himself  deeply  touched  by 
the  welcome  that  he  had  received.  His  heart  warmed  to  the 
Belgian  people,  and  he  was  delighted  at  their  successes  in 
the  sphere  of  industry  and  commerce,  as  revealed  in  striking 
fashion  at  the  Brussels  International  Exhibition.    Jovial, 

277 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

affable,  enthusiastic  in  turn,  and  constantly  breaking  into 
his  guttural  laugh,  he  ran  up  and  down  the  whole  gamut  of 
his  nature.  His  hearers  were  spellbound.  How  could  they 
have  failed  to  be  convinced  that  the  great  Emperor  in  their 
midst  was  a  benevolent  Titan? 

Obvious  attempts  to  gain  for  Germany  the  favor  of  the 
Belgian  Court  and  society,  amazement  at  our  prosperity  — 
such  were  the  impressions  left  upon  us  by  the  mobile  face 
and  winning  smile  of  our  august  visitor.  Brussels,  unused  to 
receiving  royal  personages,  had  spared  no  effort  in  order  to 
rise  to  the  occasion. 

When  the  Emperor,  from  the  balcony  of  the  Town  Hall, 
had  feasted  his  eyes  on  the  incomparable  scene  of  the 
market-place,  he  exclaimed  to  the  Empress:  "We  did  not 
expect  anything  so  beautiful! "  While  on  his  way  back  from 
a  drive  to  Tervueren x  on  the  magnificent  road  constructed 
by  the  late  King,  he  expressed  his  astonishment  at  the  num- 
ber of  sumptuous  villas  along  the  way,  and  estimated  the 
incomes  of  their  owners.  .  .  . 

Early  hints  of  war 

After  Agadir,  William  II  came  to  regard  war  with  Prance 
as  inexorably  decreed  by  Fate. 

On  the  5th  and  6th  of  November,  1913,  the  King  of  the 
Belgians  was  his  (the  Kaiser's)  guest  at  Potsdam,  after 
returning  from  Liineburg,  where  he  had  paid  his  usual 
courtesy  visit  to  the  regiment  of  dragoons  of  which  he  was 
honorary  colonel.  On  this  occasion  the  Emperor  told  King 
Albert  that  he  looked  upon  war  with  France  as  "  inevitable 
and  close  at  hand."  What  reason  did  he  give  for  this  pessi- 
mistic statement,  which  impressed  his  royal  visitor  all  the 
more  strongly  since  the  belief  in  the  peaceful  sentiments  of 
the  Emperor  had  not  yet  been  shaken  in  Belgium?     He 

1  It  will  be  noticed  in  the  extracts  from  the  Dutch  Professor  Grondys,  in 
the  chapter  on  the  alleged  atrocities  in  Belgium,  that  it  was  at  Tervueren 
that  the  young  Jesuit  father  was  executed  for  referring  in  an  uncompli- 
mentary manner  in  his  notebook  to  the  destruction  of  the  Library  of 
Louvain. 

278 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

pointed  out  that  France  herself  wanted  war,  and  that  she 
was  arming  rapidly  with  that  end  in  view,  as  was  proved  by 
the  vote  on  the  law  enacting  a  three  years'  term  of  military 
service.  At  the  same  time  he  declared  that  he  felt  certain  of 
victory.  The  Belgian  monarch,  who  was  better  informed  as 
to  the  real  inclinations  of  the  French  Government  and  peo- 
ple, tried  in  vain  to  enlighten  him,  and  to  dispel  from  his 
mind  the  false  picture  that  he  drew  from  the  language  of  a 
handful  of  fanatical  patriots,  the  picture  of  a  France  thirst- 
ing for  war. 

The  real  object  of  these  confidential  outbursts  is  not 
hard  to  discover.  They  were  an  invitation  to  our  country, 
face  to  face  with  the  danger  that  threatened  Western  Eu- 
rope, to  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  the  stronger,  arms 
ready  to  open,  to  clasp  Belgium,  —  yes,  and  to  crush  her. 
When  we  think  of  the  ultimatum  issued  to  Belgium  on  the 
following  2d  of  August,  we  realize  to  what  an  act  of  ser- 
vility and  cowardice  William  II,  through  this  Potsdam  in- 
terview, would  fain  have  driven  King  Albert. 

On  the  6th  of  November  General  von  Moltke,  Chief  of 
the  General  Staff,  after  a  dinner  to  which  the  Emperor,  in 
honor  of  his  guest,  had  invited  the  leading  officials  present 
in  Berlin,  had  a  conversation  with  King  Albert.  He  expressed 
himself  in  the  same  terms  as  his  Sovereign  on  the  subject  of 
war  with  France,  asserted  that  it  was  bound  to  come  soon, 
and  insisted  still  more  emphatically  on  the  certain  prospect 
of  success,  in  view  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  whole 
German  nation  would  gird  up  its  loins  to  beat  back  the  tradi- 
tional foe. 

General  von  Moltke  also  said  to  the  Belgian  Military 
Attache :  "  War  with  France  at  an  early  date  is  inevitable, 
and  the  victory  of  the  German  army  is  certain,  even  if  it  is 
purchased  by  tremendous  sacrifices  and  by  a  few  prelimin- 
ary set-backs.  Nothing  can  stop  the  furor  teutonicus  once 
it  has  been  let  loose.  The  German  nation  will  rise  as  one 
man  to  take  up  the  gauntlet  which  the  French  people  will 
have  the  insane  foolhardiness  to  throw  down." 

The  introduction  of  universal  service  in  Belgium  was  not 
looked  upon  with  favor  in  Germany.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 

279 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Emperor  ought  to  have  been  delighted.  During  his  visit  to 
Switzerland  in  the  previous  autumn,  he  had  complained  of 
the  exposed  state  of  his  northwestern  frontier,  as  contrasted 
with  the  solid  rampart  provided  in  the  south  by  the  excellent 
troops  of  the  Swiss  Confederation.  The  German  newspapers 
spoke  of  our  military  reforms  without  any  malicious  com- 
ments, but  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the  German  officer 
class.  I  was  able  to  gather  this  from  the  remarks  made  to 
me  by  Baron  von  Zedlitz,  colonel  of  a  dragoon  regiment  of 
the  Guards,  and  grandson,  on  his  mother's  side,  of  a  former 
Belgian  Minister  at  Berlin.  No  doubt  the  Belgian  sympa- 
thies that  he  had  inherited  from  his  mother  moved  him  to 
unbosom  himself  to  me  one  day.  "  What  is  the  good,"  he 
said,  "  of  enlarging  the  number  of  your  troops?  With  the 
small  number  that  you  had  before,  you  surely  never  dreamt  of 
barring  the  way  to  us  in  a  Franco-German  war.  The  increase 
of  your  effectives  might  inspire  you  with  the  idea  of  resisting 
us.  If  a  single  shot  were  fired  on  us,  Heaven  knows  what 
would  become  of  Belgium!"  This  was  the  language  of  a 
friend,  not  of  a  soldier. 

The  passage  of  the  belligerents  through  Belgium  was  a 
favorite  theme  with  all  writers,  French,  German,  English, 
Dutch,  and  Belgian,  who  handled,  more  or  less  competently, 
the  problem  of  the  coming  war.  Some  of  Germany's  prepa- 
rations for  invading  her  neighbors  could  not  be  hidden,  and 
these  naturally  gave  a  fillip  to  the  discussion  of  various  moot 
points.  As  early  as  1911,  ten  railway  lines,  both  single  and 
double,  ran  from  the  Eifel  region  to  the  Belgian  frontier  or 
the  Duchy  of  Luxemburg.  Four  others  were  under  con- 
struction, and  yet  another  four  were  projected.  Most  of  these 
lines  were  quite  needless  for  the  purposes  of  traffic,  and  their 
aim  was  purely  strategic.  Stations  with  full  plant  and  spe- 
cial platforms  for  the  arrival  and  departure  of  troops  had 
been  built  with  that  methodical  thoroughness  for  which  the 
Germans  are  famous.  An  enormous  concentration  camp, 
with  a  range  for  artillery  practice,  had  been  established  at 
Elsenborn,  near  Malmedy,  a  stone's  throw  from  our  frontier. 
Which  route  would  be  chosen  by  the  oncoming  host? 

So  far,  we  had  no  cause  for  doubting  that  our  frontiers 

280 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

were  impregnable,  still  less  that  they  were  capable  of  resist- 
ing. The  progress  of  ballistics  in  Germany  and  Austria,  the 
terrible  results  gained  by  unremitting  toil  in  the  workshops 
of  Krupp  and  Skoda,  were  still  unknown  to  the  outside 
world.  No  one  suspected  the  existence  of  German  seventeen- 
inch  and  Austrian  twelve-inch  mortars,  which  would  shatter 
a  fort  of  concrete  and  steel  in  a  few  hours  under  a  fire  of  pro- 
jectiles weighing  nearly  a  ton. 

Some  writers  limited  the  German  march  to  the  right  bank 
of  the  Meuse,  across  Belgian  Luxemburg,  despite  the  scarc- 
ity of  roads  and  the  obstacles  that  the  broken  nature  of  the 
country  would  offer  to  a  rapid  onset.  Belgian  Luxemburg, 
an  outlying  spur  of  our  territory  in  the  Ardennes  district, 
seemed  impossible  for  a  Belgian  force  to  defend. 

Other  military  prophets,  such  as  General  Dejardin  in  Bel- 
gium and  General  Maitrot  in  France  held  that  the  enemy 
would  operate  mainly  in  great  masses  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Meuse. 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  plan  of  the  German  Staff 
had  not  been  fathomed.  Among  those  who  could  speak 
with  authority,  the  greater  number  imagined  that  only  the 
right  wing  of  the  army  directed  against  France  would  pass 
through  Belgium.  They  had  not  guessed  the  bold  maneu- 
ver, the  tremendous  developments,  that  we  have  seen  carried 
out:  to  leave  a  "curtain"  of  troops  along  the  Vosges  line, 
and  with  three  fourths  of  the  army  to  cross  the  Meuse  at 
several  points,  from  Vise  right  down  to  Dinant;  to  take 
Liege  and  Namur  by  storm,  if  necessary;  to  march  on 
Brussels,  sweeping  aside  the  Belgian  army;  and  thence  to 
turn  off  southwards  by  the  various  routes  that  lead  to 
Paris.  The  whole  northwestern  section  of  France  was  un- 
provided with  defenses,  excepting  the  fortress  of  Maubeuge. 
Once  the  plains  of  Belgium  had  been  traversed,  the  road 
to  Paris  would  be  open. 

The  reader  must  picture  to  himself  not  a  stream  or  a  tor- 
rent, but  a  veritable  sea  of  men,  inundating  our  country 
from  Holland  to  Luxemburg,  a  million  and  a  half  to  two 
million  soldiers!  The  defensive  plans  of  Germany's  oppo- 
nents had  not  allowed  for  the  inrush  of  such  an  avalanche 

281 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

through  Belgium.  At  the  outset  of  the  war,  according  to  an 
official  Note  issued  by  the  Republican  Government,  the 
whole  of  the  French  forces  were  disposed  over  against  the 
German  border,  from  Belfort  to  the  Belgian  frontier. 

The  days  just  before  the  invasion 

The  Brussels  Cabinet  did  not  know,  any  more  than  I  did, 
of  the  bargaining  which  the  German  Government  had  at- 
tempted in  order  to  wrest  from  England  a  promise  that 
she  would  remain  neutral.  First  it  was  France's  turn  to  be 
chaffered  over;  then  came  Belgium.  Herr  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  in  his  interview  of  29th  July  with  Sir  Edward  Gos- 
chen,  had  confined  himself  to  stating  that  our  country 
would  suffer  no  loss  of  territory,  provided  it  did  not  take 
sides  against  Germany.  He  gave  no  guarantee  as  to  our  in- 
dependence. This  engagement  would  be  enough,  he  fancied, 
to  make  the  English,  who  were  reluctant  to  face  the  hazards 
of  a  Continental  war,  maintain  the  role  of  impartial  on- 
lookers, since  they  would  not  have  to  fear  either  the  dis- 
memberment of  France  or  the  disappearance  of  the  little 
Belgian  Kingdom.  Nevertheless,  on  the  morning  of  4th 
August,  when  the  Chancellor  learned  that  Belgium  was 
girding  herself  for  a  vigorous  resistance,  he  grasped  the 
necessity  for  calming  London's  excitement  by  a  notable 
advance  on  his  former  bid.  He  telegraphed  to  the  German 
Ambassador,  ordering  him  to  tell  Sir  Edward  Grey  as  soon 
as  possible  that  under  no  pretense  whatever  would  Germany 
annex  Belgian  territory.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day, 
growing  uneasy  at  England's  silence,  he  repeated  to  the 
Reichstag,  with  an  addition,  the  guarantee  he  had  proffered 
to  Sir  Edward  Grey:  "So  long  as  Great  Britain  remains 
neutral,  we  shall  respect  the  integrity  and  independence 
of  Belgium." 

It  was  too  late.  An  irretrievable  blunder  had  been  com- 
mitted on  the  evening  of  2d  August;  namely,  the  dispatch  of 
a  highly  confidential  Note,  the  most  brutal  of  ultimatums, 
to  the  Belgian  Foreign  Minister.  Not  a  word  was  said  in 
this  document  of  the  1839  treaties  or  of  Belgian  neutrality, 

282 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

beyond  a  vague  hint  that  France  was  about  to  make  use  of 
Belgian  territory  in  her  advance  against  Germany,  a  pro- 
ceeding that  compelled  the  latter  to  come  to  our  aid.  Then 
various  baits  are  held  out  to  Belgium,  if  she  will  desert  her 
trust  as  a  neutral.  By  a  diplomatic  euphemism,  the  cowardly 
act  demanded  of  her  is  cloaked  under  the  name  of  "benevo- 
lent neutrality."  The  integrity  and  independence  of  the 
kingdom  will  be  respected  to  the  full  (nothing  is  said  explic- 
itly about  the  Congo),  her  territory  will  be  evacuated  after 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  German  troops  will  pay  cash 
down  for  all  that  they  require,  and  an  indemnity  will  be 
granted  for  any  damage  that  they  may  cause.  The  sting  is 
in  the  tail;  the  threats  are  reserved  for  the  end.  If  any  armed 
resistance  is  offered,  if  any  obstacles  are  placed  in  the  way 
of  the  German  march,  if  any  roads,  railways,  or  works  of 
art  are  destroyed,  Belgium  will  be  treated  as  an  enemy. 
This  one  word  reveals  our  doom. 

I  learned  on  2d  August,  from  our  Military  Attache  (who 
had  the  news  from  an  officer  of  the  Emperor's  household), 
that  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Luxemburg  had  been  occupied. 
The  route  followed  by  the  German  army  left  me  no  doubt  as 
to  the  coming  invasion  of  Belgian  Luxemburg,  and  I  tele- 
graphed this  pessimistic  forecast  to  my  Government.  Yet  I 
had  not  gauged  the  full  measure  of  the  disaster  that  was 
about  to  overtake  my  country.  On  the  evening  of  Monday, 
3d  August,  I  received  the  official  telegram  informing  me  of 
the  German  ultimatum  and  of  our  reply.  At  first  I  was 
dumfounded;  then  came  a  fierce  glow  of  indignation.  I 
tried  to  betray  no  sign  of  this  to  my  young  secretaries,  in 
order  that  their  sorrow  and  their  anger  might  not  be  need- 
lessly increased.  I  spent  a  part  of  the  night  in  reflecting 
on  the  questions  that  I  would  put  to  the  Foreign  Secre- 
tary at  the  earliest  opportunity.  I  felt  it  my  bounden 
duty  to  go  to  him  and  insist  upon  a  downright  explana- 
tion of  the  nameless  act  perpetrated  by  the  German  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  readiness  with  which  Herr  von  Jagow  let  me  know 
that  he  hoped  to  see  me  at  the  Foreign  Office  on  Tuesday 
morning  proved  that  he  was  no  less  impatient  than  I  to  have 

283 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

this  decisive  interview.  When  I  arrived,  at  nine  o'clock,  the 
Foreign  Secretary  was  already  at  work  in  his  room. 

Before  many  words  had  passed  between  us,  I  saw  that  we 
were  speaking  two  different  languages,  and  that  neither 
could  understand  the  other's  tongue.  I  invoked  Belgium's 
honor,  the  honor  that  is  no  less  sacred  to  a  nation  than  to  an 
individual;  her  obligations  as  a  neutral,  her  past  conduct, 
always  thoroughly  loyal  towards  Germany  (this  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  ungrudgingly  admitted),  and  her  inability  to 
answer  the  Imperial  Government's  proposal  in  any  other 
way  than  she  had  answered  it  already. 

Baron  Beyens  refers  the  reader  to  a  report  of  this 
conversation  by  his  fellow  countryman,  M.  Waxweiler, 
in  "La  Belgique  Neutre."  I  reproduce  this  conversa- 
tion :  — 

The  Belgian  Minister  had  scarcely  pronounced  his  greet- 
ings when  Herr  von  Jagow  exclaimed:  — 

"  Believe  me,  it  is  with  anguish  in  her  heart  that 
Germany  has  resolved  to  violate  Belgian  neutrality; 
and  personally  I  feel  the  most  poignant  regret.  But 
what  else  is  possible?  It  is  a  question  of  life  or  death 
for  the  Empire.  If  the  German  armies  would  avoid  be- 
ing caught  between  hammer  and  anvil,  they  must  strike 
a  vigorous  blow  upon  the  side  of  France  so  as  to  be 
able  to  turn  then  upon  Russia." 

"But,"  said  Baron  Beyens,  "the  French  frontier  is 
of  such  an  extent  as  to  make  passage  through  Belgium 
avoidable." 

"  But  that  frontier  is  too  well  fortified.  Besides,  what 
is  it  we  ask  of  you?  Simply  to  permit  us  a  free  passage 
and  not  to  destroy  your  railways  or  your  tunnels,  and 
to  allow  us  to  occupy  the  fortified  places  which  we 
need." 

"There  is,"  immediately  rejoined  the  Belgian  Min- 
ister, "a  very  easy  way  of  formulating  the  only  reply 
admissible  to  such  a  demand.     It  is  this:  Suppose 

284 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

France  had  preferred  the  selfsame  request  and  we  had 
yielded.  Would  not  Germany  have  said  that  we  had 
basely  betrayed  her?  " 

The  Secretary  of  State  allowing  this  clear-cut  interroga- 
tion to  pass  without  answer,  Baron  Beyens  completed  his 
thought. 

"Have  you,"  he  asked,  "the  least  thing  with  which 
to  reproach  us?  Have  we  not  always,  for  three  quarters 
of  a  century,  fulfilled  toward  Germany,  as  well  as  to  all 
the  great  powers  guarantors  [of  the  neutrality  of  Bel- 
gium], all  our  duties  of  neutrality?  Have  we  not  given 
Germany  proof  of  our  loyal  friendship?  With  what  coin 
does  Germany  repay  all  this?  With  making  Belgium 
the  battle-field  of  Europe,  and  we  know  what  devas- 
tation, what  calamity  modern  warfare  brings  in  its 
train." 

"  Germany  has  nothing  with  which  she  can  reproach 
Belgium;  the  attitude  of  Belgium  has  always  been  be- 
yond reproach  {d'une  correction  par/aite),"  admitted 
Herr  von  Jagow. 

"You  will  admit,"  replied  Baron  Beyens,  "that  Bel- 
gium can  make  no  other  reply  than  that  which  she  has 
already  given,  without  the  loss  of  honor.  It  is  with 
nations  as  it  is  with  individuals;  there  is  not  a  different 
kind  of  honor  for  a  people  than  for  one's  self.  You  must 
admit,"  urged  Baron  Beyens,  "our  reply  had  to  be 
what  it  is." 

"I  grant  you  that  as  a  private  individual,  but  as 
Secretary  of  State  I  have  no  opinion  to  express." 

When  I  announced  my  intention  of  leaving  Berlin  and  of 
demanding  my  passports,  he  remonstrated :  he  did  not  want 
to  break  off  relations  with  me !  What  had  he  expected  from 
this  interview,  and  what  did  he  expect  now? 

As  I  withdrew,  I  shot  the  Parthian  arrow  that  I  had  kept 
in  reserve:  the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality  would  mean 
for  Germany  a  war  with  England.  Herr  von  Jagow  had  been 
speaking  with  emotion,  in  an  earnest  tone,  which  he  tried 

285 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

to  make  persuasive;  but  at  this  he  merely  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

During  the  afternoon  the  Emperor's  speech  in  the  Reich- 
stag exhorted  the  nation's  delegates  to  help  in  carrying  to  a 
triumphant  issue  this  war  that  had  been  forced  upon  Ger- 
many! William  II  said  nothing  about  the  violation  of  Bel- 
gium, but  called  down  upon  his  arms  the  blessing  of  the 
Most  High,  his  wonted  confidant. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  Chancellor.  More  honest  than 
he  has  been  since  then,  he  unhesitatingly  confessed  the 
wrong  that  had  been  done  to  Belgium,  and  promised  to 
make  amends  so  soon  as  the  military  aim  should  have  been 
attained. 

I  had  not  been  at  fault,  however,  in  predicting  to  Herr  von 
Jagow  a  war  with  England.  That  same  evening  I  dined 
alone  at  the  Kaiserhof,  a  prey  to  gloomiest  forebodings. 
As  I  left  the  restaurant,  a  handful  of  papers  were  flung  to 
me  from  a  "Berliner  Tageblatt"  motor-car.  Marveling  at 
the  swift  fulfillment  of  my  prophecy,  I  read  that  Great 
Britain  had  declared  war  on  Germany,  and  that  her  Ambas- 
sador, a  few  hours  earlier,  had  handed  in  an  ultimatum  to 
the  Imperial  Government.  I  at  once  bethought  myself  of 
rushing  to  the  British  Embassy,  in  order  to  obtain  some 
further  details  of  this  wonderful  news.  Was  it  thus  that 
Heaven  answered  the  appeals  of  her  favorite? 

Round  about  that  part  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse  in  which  the 
British  Embassy  is  situated  a  large  crowd  had  forgathered. 
Respectably  dressed  citizens  of  both  sexes  were  bellowing 
out,  with  frantic  enthusiasm,  their  best-loved  hymn, 
"Deutschland  iiber  Alles."  The  national  anthem  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  volley  of  cat-calls,  after  which  came  a  shower 
of  missiles  —  brickbats  and  lumps  of  coal.  The  ground- 
floor  windows  of  the  Embassy  were  shivered  to  atoms,  the 
two  policemen  posted  on  either  side  of  the  door  making  no 
attempt  to  interfere.  I  had  seen  and  heard  enough.  As  I 
was  wending  my  way  homewards,  a  gleam  of  hope  stole 
into  my  heart  amid  all  its  grief  and  anguish.  I  saw  a  terri- 
ble face  rising  above  the  blood-red  horizon  —  the  face  of 
the  British  Nemesis. 

286 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

VI.  Germany's  Charges  at  the  Beginning 
of  the  War 

In  a  document  published  September,  1914,  signed 
by  Prince  von  Biilow,  Dr.  von  Schmoller,  Professor 
Rohrbach,  Dr.  Jaeckh,  Dr.  Kaempf ,  President  of  the 
Reichstag,  Count  Reventlow,  Dr.  Rathenau,  General 
von  der  Goltz,  Herr  von  Gwinner,  head  of  the  Deutsche 
Bank,  Herr  Ballin,  head  of  the  Hamburg-American 
Line,  and  many  other  leading  men,  appear  the  follow- 
ing statements :  — 

Before  one  German  soldier  had  crossed  the  German 
frontier,  a  large  number  of  French  aeroplanes  came  flying 
into  our  country  across  the  neutral  territory  of  Belgium  and 
Luxemburg  without  a  word  of  warning  on  the  part  of  the 
Belgian  Government.  At  the  same  time  the  German 
Government  learned  that  the  French  were  about  to  enter 
Belgium.  Then  our  Government  with  great  reluctance  had 
to  decide  upon  requesting  the  Belgian  Government  to  allow 
our  troops  to  march  through  its  territory.  Belgium  was  to 
be  indemnified  after  the  war,  was  to  retain  its  sovereignty 
and  integrity.  Belgium  protested,  at  the  same  time  allowing, 
by  an  agreement  with  France,  that  the  French  troops  might 
enter  Belgium.  After  all  this,  and  not  till  France  and  Bel- 
gium itself  had  broken  the  neutrality,  our  troops  entered 
the  neutral  territory.  Germany  wanted  nothing  from  Bel- 
gium, but  had  to  prevent  Belgian  soil  from  being  used  as  a 
gate  of  entrance  into  German  territory. 

Great  Britain  asked  in  return  for  its  neutrality  that  the 
German  forces  should  not  enter  Belgium.  In  other  words, 
it  asked  that  Germany  should  allow  the  French  and  Belgian 
troops  to  form  on  Belgian  territory  for  a  march  against  our 
frontier.  This  we  could  not  allow.  It  would  have  been 
suicidal. 

The  German  troops,  with  their  iron  discipline,  will  respect 
the  personal  liberty  and  property  of  the  individual  in  Bel- 
gium, just  as  they  did  in  France  in  1870. 

287 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Belgians  would  have  been  wise  if  they  had  permitted 
the  passage  of  the  German  troops.  They  would  have  pre- 
served their  integrity,  and  besides  that,  would  have  fared 
well  from  the  business  point  of  view,  for  the  army  would 
have  proved  a  good  customer  and  paid  cash. 

Now,  it  may  be  said  that  such  men  would  not  sign 
these  statements  unless  they  believed  them,  and  fur- 
ther it  may  be  said  that  they  express  the  fundamental 
convictions  of  the  German  people. 

How  can  we  account  for  such  confusion  of  thought? 
Great  Britain  never  asked,  in  return  for  neutrality, 
that  German  forces  should  not  enter  Belgium. 

How  can  we  account  for  such  a  group  of  men  sug- 
gesting that  Belgium  should  sell  her  honor  for  cash? 

How  can  we  account  for  the  assertion  that  the 
German  Government  learned  that  the  French  were 
about  to  enter  Belgium,  when  nearly  all  France's 
armies  were  opposite  the  German  frontier?  There  has 
been  no  proof  of  French  aeroplanes  flying  over  Belgium 
and  Luxemburg.  If  there  had  been,  this  would  have 
been  a  just  cause  for  remonstrance,  not  invasion. 

An  investigation  was  made  by  two  distinguished 
French  professors  as  to  these  allegations,  who  write  in 
part :  — 

As  we  wished  to  ascertain  whether  the  German  news- 
papers had  given  a  more  detailed  account  of  these  occur- 
rences, we  consulted  five  of  the  principal  newspapers 
(" Vorwaerts,"  "Arbeiter  Zeitung"  of  Vienna,  "Frank- 
furter Zeitung,"  "  Kolnische  Zeitung,"  "  Miinchner  Neueste 
Nachrichten ' ')  from  the  end  of  July  to  the  5th  of  August. 
First  of  all  we  noticed  that  the  aviator  who  is  said  to  have 
flown  over  Karlsruhe  is  not  mentioned.  As  for  the  others, 
the  account  of  them  is  as  vague  as  it  is  in  the  official  note. 
These  incidents,  given  as  the  cause  determining  war,  take 

288 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF   BELGIUM 

up  one  line,  two  or  three  at  the  most.  The  bombs  never  left 
any  trace.  One  of  these  aeroplanes,  that  at  Wesel,  is  said 
to  have  been  brought  down;  nothing  is  said  of  the  aviator 
and  what  became  of  him,  nor  is  there  anything  about  the 
aeroplane  itself.  In  a  word,  the  Germans  took  care  to  draw 
attention  to  their  arrival  in  Germany  and  then  never  spoke 
of  them  again.  They  were  never  seen  to  return  to  their 
starting-point. 

But  we  have  still  more  convincing  evidence.  We  have 
been  able  to  procure  a  Nuremberg  newspaper,  the  "  Frank- 
ischer  Kurrier."  On  the  2d  of  August,  the  day  the  bombs 
are  supposed  to  have  been  thrown,  not  a  word  is  said  about 
the  incident.  Nuremberg  received  the  news  on  the  3d  by  a 
telegram  from  Berlin  identical  to  that  published  by  the 
other  newspapers.  Again,  the  "Kolnische  Zeitung"  of  the 
3d,  in  its  morning  edition,  published  a  telegram  from  Mu- 
nich which  read  as  follows:  "The  Bavarian  Minister  of  War 
is  doubtful  as  to  the  exactness  of  the  news  announcing  that 
aviators  had  been  seen  above  the  lines  Nuremberg-Kitzingen 
and  Nuremberg-Anspach  and  that  they  had  thrown  bombs 
on  the  railway." 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  German  Government  has 
produced  no  proof  of  aggression  by  France.  I  give 
certain  orders  by  the  French  military  authorities  that 
indicate  the  course  of  France,  and  also,  incidentally, 
that  of  Belgium :  — 

General  secret  instructions  for  covering  troops 
Issued  at  Paris,  August  2,  191J/.. 

(1)  From  information  received  it  appears  that  the  Ger- 
mans have  this  morning  violated  the  French  frontier  at 
three  points,  namely,  between  Delle  and  Belfort,  opposite 
Cirey-sur-Vezouze,  and  both  to  the  north  and  south  of 
Longwy. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  order  forbidding  the  pas- 
sage of  troops  eastwards  beyond  the  line  laid  down  by  tele- 

289 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

gram  No.  129  — 3/11  T,  situated  generally  at  a  distance  of 
10  kilometres  from  the  frontier,  is  hereby  rescinded.  Never- 
theless, for  national  reasons  of  a  moral  kind  and  for  most 
important  reasons  of  diplomacy,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  leave  to  the  Germans  all  responsibility  for  hostilities. 
Therefore,  until  further  orders,  covering  troops  will  confine 
themselves  to  driving  back  attacking  forces  beyond  the 
frontier  without  pursuing  them  and  without  penetrating 
into  the  territory  of  the  enemy. 

(2)  The  Commander-in-Chief  intends  to  take  up  the  gen- 
eral offensive  only  when  his  forces  have  been  concentrated. 

(Signed)  J.  Joffre, 

General  Commander-in-Chief. 

Message  telephoned  to  the  officers  in  command  of  sections  of 

covering  troops 

Paris,  August  3,  10.30  a.m. 
The  first  paragraph  of  the  General  Instructions  for  cover- 
ing troops,  issued  yesterday,  the  2d  of  August,  at  5.30  p.m., 
laid  stress  upon  the  urgent  necessity  of  not  crossing  the 
frontier  for  reasons  therein  specified.  If  any  incidents  should 
occur,  they  must  only  take  place  and  be  developed  on  French 
territory.  This  order  will  be  confirmed  to  you  by  an  officer 
of  the  Grand  General  Staff,  who  will  go  to  see  you  this  even- 
ing by  motor-car. 

(Signed)  J.  Joffre, 

The  General  Commander-in-Chief. 

Telegrams  sent  to  the  Second,  Sixth,  Seventh,  Twentieth,  and 

Twenty-first  Corps 

August  h,  1914,  lO.lfi  a.m. 
War  is  declared. 

Italy  has  made  an  official  declaration  of  complete  neu- 
trality. Germany  will  endeavor,  by  the  dissemination  of 
false  news,  to  induce  us  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Belgium 
and  Switzerland.  It  is  strictly  forbidden,  in  the  most  formal 
manner,  until  the  issue  of  new  orders,  to  the  contrary,  that 

290 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF   BELGIUM 

any  of  our  troops  should  penetrate,  either  as  patrols  or  single 
scouts,  into  Swiss  or  Belgian  territory,  or  that  any  airman 
should  fly  over  the  territories  of  these  countries. 

(Signed)  Messimy. 

Instructions  issued  in  common  to  the  Cavalry  Corps  and  to 

the  Second  Corps 

Paris,  August  5,  7.20  and  745  a.m. 

(1)  French  aeroplanes  and  dirigibles  are  authorized  to 
fly  over  Belgian  territory.  But  as  the  Belgian  troops  were 
yesterday  still  under  orders  to  fire  upon  all  airships,  and  as 
the  countermanding  order  may  not  as  yet  have  reached 
everybody,  it  will  be  necessary  for  our  pilots  to  fly  at  a  con- 
siderable height. 

(2)  Cavalry  patrols  for  reconnaissance  work  are  also 
authorized  to  penetrate  into  Belgian  territory,  but  for  the 
present  they  must  not  be  supported  by  any  large  bodies  of 
troops.  Your  object  from  now  onwards  should  be  to  act  upon 
this  authority  with  discretion,  so  as  to  cut  the  lines  of  com- 
munication as  near  to  the  frontier  of  Luxemburg  as  possible 
—  that  is  to  say,  the  roads  leading  westwards  from  in  front 
of  Virton-Stavelot. 

(3)  Express  orders  must  be  issued  to  the  troops  to  regard 
themselves  as  being  in  the  country  of  a  friend  and  ally;  to 
make  no  requisitions  until  the  convention,  now  under  dis- 
cussion, on  this  subject  has  been  made  known,  and  to  buy 
nothing  except  by  friendly  agreement  and  for  ready  cash. 

J.    JOFFRE, 

The  General  Commander-in-Chief. 

VII.  The  Innocence  of  Belgium 

To  understand  the  German  belief  in  regard  to  the 
neutrality  of  Belgium  it  is  necessary  to  know  the  gen- 
eral beliefs  in  Germany  as  to  the  character  and  aims  of 
England.  These  I  have  illustrated  by  quotations  in  this 
book.   Then  we  must  add  to  this  a  state  of  mind  that 

291 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

in  an  individual  would  be  called  the  mania  of  persecu- 
tion. 

The  German  people  are  absolutely  convinced  that 
Belgium  was  one  of  the  conspiring  enemies  that  united 
to  destroy  Germany.  A  careful  study  of  the  docu- 
ments, collateral  material,  and  the  actual  facts,  aside 
from  the  printed  words,  show  that  these  charges  are 
absolutely  without  foundation. 

It  also  seems  probable  that  the  German  war  plans 
involved  the  invasion  of  France  by  way  of  Belgium, 
but  I  believe  that  Germany  did  not  anticipate  such 
resistance  on  the  part  of  Belgium,  and  that  when  Ger- 
many made  the  second  offer  to  Belgium  after  the  fall 
of  Liege  she  expected  the  acquiescence  of  Belgium. 

The  "Deutsche  Kriege  Zeitung,"  official  paper  of 
the  German  Military  Association,  says  (War  Edition) : 

The  plan  for  the  invasion  of  France  had  been  prepared 
years  ago.  It  had  to  be  pursued  successfully  on  the  northern 
part  of  France  through  Belgium,  so  as  to  avoid  the  strongly 
fortified  lines  with  which  the  enemy  had  protected  her 
German  frontier,  and  which  it  would  have  been  very  diffi- 
cult to  pierce. 

As  to  Germany's  strategic  railways,  I  give  this 
statement  of  Walter  Littlefield :  — 

The  strategic  dispositions  of  Germany,  especially  as  re- 
gards railways,  have  for  some  years  given  rise  to  the  apprehen- 
sion that  Germany  would  attack  France  through  Belgium. 

The  disposition  of  the  Third,  Seventh,  Ninth,  Tenth, 
and  Eleventh  Germany  Army  Corps  and  the  First,  Fourth, 
and  Fifth  Cavalry  Divisions,  from  August  2  to  5,  shown  on 
French  war  maps,  reveals  that  the  attack  was  so  made. 

Stewart  Houston  Chamberlain  makes  a  similar 
statement :  — 

292 


THE  NEUTRALITY  OF  BELGIUM 

The  German  victories  are  not,  in  the  first  place,  due  to  the 
"furor  teutonicus"  of  which  one  hears  so  much;  on  the  con- 
trary, they  are  mainly  based  on  the  calm,  efficient,  and  fore- 
seeing work  of  decades.  By  well-informed  quarters  I  am  told 
that  the  whole  of  the  present  plan  of  campaign  dates  in  its 
very  details  back  to  old  Moltke;  he  had  drawn  up  a  plan  for 
a  war  on  two  as  well  as  on  three  fronts.  This  plan  has  been 
kept  up-to-date  by  the  indefatigable  labors  of  the  General 
Staff  —  new  means  of  transport,  auto-transport,  aeronau- 
tics, the  new  arms,  have  all  been  taken  into  consideration, 
and  the  plan  extended;  in  addition  it  has  been  nearly  daily 
tested  as  to  its  readiness.  .  .  . 

Belgium  was  expected  to  submit  under  terrorization. 
The  German  documents  prove  this,  but  if  there  is 
one  lesson  taught  by  the  war,  it  is  this :  that  threats, 
coercion,  terrorization,  do  not  make  people  yield.  Il- 
lustrations are  the  failure  of  Austria  to  coerce  Servia, 
and  of  Germany  and  Austria  to  coerce  Russia,  and 
the  failure  of  Germany  to  coerce  Belgium,  and  the  fail- 
ure of  Germany  to  coerce  Turkey  in  regard  to  the  Ar- 
menian massacres.  Sir  Edward  Grey,  carrying  on  his 
efforts  for  peace  during  the  fateful  thirteen  days,  with- 
out threats  or  attempts  to  coerce,  showed  a  much  bet- 
ter understanding  of  human  psychology. 

Excepting  the  German  official  Zeppelin  reports  I 
have  examined  no  body  of  material  so  utterly  de- 
tached from  reality  as  the  various  and  varying  charges, 
made  by  the  German  Government  and  German  publi- 
cists and  professors,  against  Belgium. 

The  German  Government  largely  depends  for  its 
information  in  regard  to  such  matters  on  the  military 
authorities.  The  military  authorities  depend  on  their 
Intelligence  Department. 

Judging  by  the  reports  made  by  the  Intelligence 

293 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Department  as  to  the  Zeppelin  raids,  and  as  to  the  acts 
of  France  and  Belgium  at  the  opening  of  the  war,  I 
believe  that  the  Intelligence  Department  is  very  badly 
informed,  and  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  reasons 
assigned  by  the  military  authorities  that  led  to  the  dec- 
laration of  war  against  Russia,  depended  on  informa- 
tion furnished  by  this  same  Intelligence  Department. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE  OF  DEPOR- 
TATIONS AND  OF  TERRITORIAL  APPROPRIATION 

I.  The  Origin  of  the  Theories 

The  actually  or  potentially  dominating  nations  of  the 
twentieth  century  are  the  United  States,  the  British 
Empire,  Germany,  and  Russia.  War  and  peace  and  the 
security  of  other  nations  are  determined  by  the  policies 
and  acts  of  these  four  dominant  powers.  Of  these  four 
powers  the  United  States  and  Russia  possess  in  a  very 
high  degree  the  essential  factor  of  natural  safety.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  British  Empire  and  Germany  lack 
the  essential  factor  of  natural  safety.  Hence  the  Brit- 
ish Navy  and  the  German  Army. 

Germany  has  two  great  lacks:  territory  and  se- 
curity. Russia,  with  one  sixth  of  the  earth's  surface, 
larger  than  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  Mexico 
combined,  with  two  and  one  half  times  the  population 
of  Germany,  and  the  highest  birth-rate  of  any  nation 
in  the  world,  impends  over  Germany.  This  thought 
greatly  preoccupies  the  minds  of  those  charged  with 
the  safety  of  the  Fatherland.  It  is  the  obsession  of 
Germany. 

For  centuries  Germany  was  merely  a  geographical 
name,  designating  many  little  nations,  often  mutually 
distrustful  and  hostile.  For  centuries  also  Germany 
was  the  battle-field  of  Europe.  The  wars  of  the  na- 
tions were  fought  on  her  fields.  The  German  Em- 
pire was  conceived  by  the  sword  and  born  on  the 

295 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

battle-field.  The  most  persistent  tradition  of  Germany 
is  war. 

The  nineteenth  century  is  Germany's  century.  Un- 
der the  spur  of  necessity  she  mastered  more  thoroughly 
than  any  other  nation  the  inventions  and  discoveries 
of  the  last  hundred  years.  These  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries led  to  intensive  internal  development  in  all 
countries.  The  new  body  of  knowledge  revolutionized 
education,  agriculture,  hygiene  and  social  and  indus- 
trial organization. 

Given  other  factors  the  basic  force  of  a  nation  lies  in 
the  health  and  vigor  of  the  people.  In  Germany  physi- 
cal training  for  the  army  both  improves  the  health  of 
the  people  and  disciplines  them.  To  overcome  the 
inequalities  and  unhygienic  condition  of  modern  indus- 
trial life,  Germany  introduced  government  insurance 
and  special  care  of  working-men  on  a  national  scale. 

Professor  Fuster  said  years  ago,  before  one  could  think  of 
the  war,  that  German  social  reform  "  had  made  Germany 
strong  and  full  of  life-force,  to  last  forever." 

I  believe  Professor  Zimmermann  has  coined  the  saying: 
that  German  social  policy  has  "  contributed  as  much  to  the 
gigantic  and  victorious  mobilization  of  the  German  nation 
as  the  General  Staff,  the  Deutsche  Bank,  and  the  railway." 

Poets,  philosophers,  statesmen,  warriors,  scientists, 
manufacturers,  traders,  master  minds  —  all  have 
worked  together  in  Germany  in  the  most  harmonious 
and  efficient  coordination  to  create  their  ideal  nation. 
Two  things  they  could  not  change  —  their  situation 
in  the  heart  of  Europe  and  the  extent  of  their  territory. 

The  extraordinary  efficiency  of  the  Germans,  their 
enormously  increased  and  rapidly  growing  population, 
and  their  intense  sense  of  nationality  caused  in  them 

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GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

a  passionate  revolt  against  the  limited  extent  of  their 
contiguous  territory,  and  against  the  natural  insecurity 
of  their  empire.  These  factors  led  to  the  birth  of  a 
body  of  feelings  and  beliefs  that  ultimately  affected 
the  whole  national  mind.  First  there  was  a  sense  of 
great  superiority  over  other  nations,  then  a  belief  in  the 
decadence  of  their  rivals;  and  finally,  a  sense  of  exas- 
peration that  the  world  should  be  parceled  out  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  give  the  most  worthy  nation  territory 
of  absolutely  insignificant  extent.  If  the  population 
of  the  United  States  were  70,000,000  and  confined  to 
the  State  of  California,  we  should  probably  regard 
South  America  with  its  9,000,000  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  75,000,000  with  an  acquisitive  mind. 

II.  The  Mission  of  the  German  People  and  their 
Sense  of  Superiority 

I  can  give  a  better  idea  of  this  sense  of  superiority  in 
the  German  people  by  quoting  from  the  recognized 
leaders  of  thought  in  Germany. 

The  mission  of  Germany  as  to  universal  peace 

Baron  von  Stengel,  Professor  at  Munich,  who  was 
one  of  the  German  delegates  at  the  Hague  Conference, 
accepting  an  invitation  from  the  Anti-War  League  of 
Holland  to  give  his  opinion  on  the  subject  of  a  future 
peace  conference,  replied  as  follows :  — 

It  would  be  completely  superfluous  to  say,  because  it  is 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  the  final  and  decisive  victory  must 
rest  and  will  rest  with  Germany.  Then  we  shall  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  restrain  all  the  enemies  of  peace,  and  to  win  and 
maintain  permanent  peace;  the  only  peace  that  will  be 
assured,  alike  for  ourselves  and  for  all  civilized  humanity. 

297 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

The  war  has  demonstrated,  throughout  its  course,  that  we, 
the  Germans,  have  been  chosen  by  Providence,  from  among 
all  earth's  peoples,  to  put  ourselves  at  the  head  of  all  civilized 
nations  and  guide  them  to  a  sure  peace  under  our  protection. 
For  this  we  possess  not  only  the  necessary  power  and  force, 
but  also,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  intellectual  gifts  requisite, 
and  we  are  the  flower  of  the  entire  creation's  Kultur.  Con- 
sequently, it  has  been  reserved  for  us  to  do  what  no  nation 
hitherto  has  been  able  to  do  —  to  give  all  the  world  peace. 

From  this  it  follows  that  it  is  useless  to  engage  in  any 
labors  on  behalf  of  peace,  because  we,  the  Germans,  with 
our  domination  over  our  turbulent  neighbors,  shall  assume 
also  the  duty  of  policing  peace.  We  shall  be  in  a  position  to 
destroy  in  the  germ  all  hostility  to  peace. 

Subjection  to  our  guardianship,  which  is  in  every  sense 
superior  to  any  other,  is  the  sure  and  only  road  to  prosperity 
for  every  nation,  and  especially  for  the  neutrals.  The  best 
thing  they  can  do  is  to  unite  voluntarily  with  us  and  rest  on 
us.  In  these  times,  so  difficult  for  those  who  are  isolated,  it  is 
proper  and  prudent  for  them  to  unite  themselves  with  one 
powerful  head.  To  make  one's  self  worthy  of  a  powerful 
hereditary  seigneur  is  to  sow  seed  for  the  future.  No  people 
is  richer  in  sentiment  and  in  ideals  than  are  we,  the  Ger- 
mans. Therefore,  under  our  protection,  all  international  law 
is  perfectly  superfluous;  for,  by  our  own  natural  instinct, 
we  give  each  his  own. 

Professor  Rudolf  Eucken,  of  the  University  of  Jena, 

says :  — 

To  us  more  than  to  any  other  nation  is  entrusted  the  true 
structure  of  human  existence;  as  an  intellectual  people  we 
have,  irrespective  of  creeds,  worked  for  soul  depth  in  reli- 
gion, for  scientific  thoroughness.  .  .  .  All  this  constitutes 
possessions  the  lack  of  which  would  make  life  and  effort  pur- 
poseless to  mankind. 

This  war  is  not  only  a  struggle  between  certain  nations, 
but  also  between  certain  forms  of  culture.  We  are  fighting 
for  the  maintenance  and  spreading  of  the  special  form  of 

298 


GERMAN   THEORIES  AND   PRACTICE 

culture  which  our  nature  has  implanted  and  the  whole 
course  of  our  history  has  developed  in  us.  .  .  . 

Thus  it  is  that  we  have  raised  religion,  philosophy,  edu- 
cation, music,  and  poetry  to  lofty  heights.  We  have  achieved 
such  great  things  in  the  world  because  we  put  our  soul  into 
our  work.  Because  we  did  not  seek  externals,  but  ourselves, 
in  culture,  it  became  for  us  a  matter  of  deepest  earnest.  .  .  . 

Mankind  at  this  point  needs  German  methods.  However 
much  our  opponents  may  rail  against  us  just  now,  they  will 
eventually  be  forced  to  make  use  of  us  for  their  spiritual 
preservation. 

Professor  Ostwald,  a  Nobel  prize-winner  (as  a  chem- 
ist) and  a  well-known  German  scientist,  says :  — 

Germany,  thanks  to  her  genius  for  organization  or  social 
efficiency,  has  attained  a  stage  of  civilization  far  higher  than 
that  of  all  other  peoples.  This  war  will  in  the  future  compel 
these  other  peoples  to  participate,  under  the  form  of  German 
social  efficiency,  in  a  civilization  higher  than  their  own. 
Among  our  enemies  the  Russians,  in  brief,  are  still  in  the 
period  of  the  undisciplined  tribe,  while  the  French  and  the 
English  have  only  attained  the  degree  of  cultural  develop- 
ment which  we  ourselves  left  behind  fifty  years  ago.  Their 
stage  of  culture  is  that  of  individualism;  but  above  that 
stage  lies  the  stage  of  organization  or  social  efficiency,  and 
it  is  this  stage  which  Germany  has  reached  to-day. 

The  Emperor  Wilhelm  II  says :  — 

The  great  ideals  have  become  for  us  Germans  a  permanent 
possession,  while  other  nations  have  more  or  less  lost  them. 
The  German  nation  is  now  the  only  people  left  which  is 
called  upon  in  the  first  place  to  protect  and  cultivate  and 
promote  these  great  ideals.  .  .  . 

In  the  same  spirit  the  Kaiser  said  in  an  address  at 
Bremen :  — 

God  has  called  us  to  civilize  the  world:  we  are  the  mis- 
sionaries of  human  progress. 

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OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Shortly  afterwards,  again:  — 

The  German  people  will  be  the  block  of  granite  on  which 
our  Lord  will  be  able  to  elevate  and  achieve  the  civilization 
of  the  world.  .  .  . 

Von  der  Goltz  said :  — 

We  must  understand,  and  make  the  youth  of  our  genera- 
tion understand,  that  the  time  for  repose  has  not  yet  come, 
that  the  prediction  of  a  final  struggle  to  assure  the  existence 
and  the  grandeur  of  Germany  is  not  a  mere  fancy  born  in 
the  minds  of  ambitious  fools,  but  that  it  will  come  one  day 
inevitably,  violent  and  serious,  as  is  every  decisive  struggle 
between  peoples  each  of  whom  the  one  desire  is  to  have  its 
superiority  over  the  others  definitely  recognized. 

Herr  Loeber  says :  — 

All  that  is  good  and  noble,  all  that  is  healthy  and  healing, 
in  German  fashion  will  after  the  war  prove  a  blessing  to 
other  nations  as  well:  German  loyalty,  German  honesty, 
German  conscientiousness,  German  sense  of  duty,  German 
truthfulness,  German  earnestness,  German  cordiality,  Ger- 
man industry,  German  perseverance.  The  world  is  com- 
pletely diseased.  It  may  be  that  the  Lord  God  will  be 
pleased  to  use  the  German  nation  as  physician  to  the  suf- 
fering world. 

Dr.  Lasson,  Privy  Councillor  and  Professor  of  Phi- 
losophy at  the  University  of  Berlin,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war,  wrote  as  follows :  — 

We  are  morally  and  intellectually  superior,  beyond  all 
comparison,  as  are  our  organizations  and  our  institutions. 
Our  army  is  the  epitome  of  German  intelligence  and  moral 
excellence;  its  perfect  discipline  is  well  known. 

We  do  good  deeds  to  all  people.  Louvain  was  not  des- 
troyed; only  the  houses  of  the  murderers.  We  Germans 
give  our  judgment  only  after  an  inquiry  has  taken  place. 
The  Cathedral  of  Rheims  is  not  destroyed  —  the  French 

300 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

caused  the  damage.  Germany  has  taught  the  world  how 
to  carry  on  war  and  politics  in  a  conscientious  and  proper 
manner.  England  will  come  to  nought.  The  real  enemy  is 
England.  Woe  unto  thee,  England!  God  is  with  us  and 
the  just  cause. 

Because  we  are  efficient  and  morally  superior,  all  those 
who  cannot  attain  our  moral  strength  are  afraid  of  us, 
and  think  us  dangerous.  We  are  the  freest  people  of  the 
earth,  for  we  obey,  and  our  law  is  Reason.  Our  successes 
in  war  and  peace  are  deserved,  the  price  of  infinite  striving. 
Our  Kaiser,  our  Chancellor,  our  leading  men  have  nowhere 
their  equals,  like  our  people.  Humaneness,  gentleness,  con- 
scientiousness, Christianity,  are  our  distinguishing  marks. 
"In  a  world  of  wickedness  we  represent  the  Love  which  is 
of  Heaven,  and  God  is  with  us." 

The  German  God  according  to  war  sermons 

A  great  many  volumes  of  sermons  have  been  pub- 
lished by  distinguished  preachers  breathing  the  same 
spirit.   I  quote  briefly. 

Dr.  John  Rump,  of  Berlin,  in  the  course  of  a  sermon 
said :  — 

It  is  our  duty  to  labor  on  in  the  German  mission,  which 
consists  in  revealing  God  more  completely  to  men.  We  shall 
succeed  in  this,  even  were  the  world  still  fuller  of  the  demon 
than  it  is.  .  .  .  By  our  domination  over  the  world,  which,  as 
we  hope,  will  be  the  exterior  result  of  this  war,  God  will 
establish  his  sovereignty  among  the  other  nations.  By  each 
victory  which  He  sends  us,  He  prepares  for  us  the  material 
means  of  accomplishing  our  mission  to  humanity. 

Walter  Lehmann,  pastor  at  Hamberge,  in  Holstein, 
in  his  collection  of  sermons  published,  with  the  Iron 
Cross,  under  the  title  of  "The  German  God,  1915," 
says :  — 

The  German  soul  is  the  soul  of  God;  she  should  rule  over 
humanity,  and  she  shall  so  rule. 

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OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

God,  who  is  nothing  else  than  the  deepest,  the  most  abso- 
lute, the  most  intimate  principle  of  our  soul,  the  purity  and 
verity  of  our  sentiments,  the  justice  and  the  loyalty  of  our 
acts,  the  moral  necessity  of  our  struggle,  this  God  which  we 
only,  the  Germans,  can  have  in  this  war,  this  German  God 
is  our  best  and  deepest  succor. 

The  German  God  has  come  to  life! 

III.  The  Inferiority  of  Other  Nations 

With  this  sense  of  superiority  in  most  fields  of  human 
endeavor,  there  grew  a  certain  contempt  for  other  peo- 
ples, and  a  sense  of  exasperation  that  inferior  peoples 
should  exclude  Germany  from  her  share  of  the  earth's 
surface. 

From  the  extracts  made  from  the  introduction  to  the 
dispatches  from  the  Belgian  Ministers,  one  can  get  an 
exact  idea  of  the  views  of  the  German  Government  as 
to  England,  for  that  introduction  was  issued  by  the 
German  Foreign  Office. 

i  The  general  belief  in  Germany  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary is  that  England  is  in  the  last  analysis  guilty  of 
this  war.  In  a  statement  made  to  the  Associated  Press 
correspondent  near  Verdun,  January  22,  1916,  the 
German  Crown  Prince  said:  "We  are  convinced  that 
the  day  will  come  when  the  people  of  Russia  and 
France  will  find  out  that  they  are  only  doing  the  dirty 
work  for  England." 

The  general  feeling  against  England  is  expressed  by 
Professor  Meyer  in  these  words :  — 

Worst  of  all  the  things,  however,  which  the  war  has 
brought  to  light,  is  the  ruthlessness  shown  by  England  and 
the  appalling  decadence  of  English  character.  The  world 
knew  long  ago  how  many  lies  and  empty  phrases  were  hid- 
den behind  the  English  cloak  of  hypocrisy,  how  little  the 

302 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

Englishman  cares  about  "fair  play"  when  his  own  advan- 
tage is  concerned;  but  no  one  had  imagined  the  depths  of 
immorality  which  the  war  has  revealed.  We  have  found  that 
the  English  gentleman  shrinks  from  no  crime,  not  even 
murder,  so  long  as  he  can  preserve  outward  appearances. 

Professor  Rohrbach,  speaking  of  the  Zeppelin  raids, 
says : — 

If  we  can  cover  with  fire  a  large  enough  territory  in  Eng- 
land so  that  the  conflagration  will  strangle  the  breath  of  that 
nation  and  force  it  to  stretch  out  its  hands  toward  peace,  we 
have  a  right  to  make  use  of  that  means.  Mercy  toward  such 
an  enemy  is  cruelty  toward  our  own  compatriots.  It  may  be 
that  after  the  war  we  will  recall  ivith  a  shudder  the  severe  steps 
they  have  forced  us  to  take;  our  reply  will  be:  "It  is  not  we 
who  wanted  this,  but  you  yourselves!" 

Among  the  most  influential  of  German  publicists 
is  Friedrich  Naumann,  author  of  "Central  Europe." 
At  the  conclusion  of  a  lecture  that  he  recently  deliv- 
ered in  Vienna,  he  sketched  the  relations  of  England 
to  Austria-Hungary,  "  which  have  been  marked  by  the 
same  selfish  seeking  after  her  own  profit."  "  They  talk 
of  themselves  as  the  Elect;  they  are  not  the  Elect  of 
God,  but  of  the  Devil."  Addressing  working  men  in 
his  audience,  he  described  England  as  the  country 
where  capitalism  had  celebrated  its  worst  orgies. 
"The  English  national  character  is  of  no  value  to 
humanity,  and  is  responsible  for  all  the  evil  on  earth." 

IV.   Germany's  Policies  for  Expansion  and 
Methods  to  be  employed 

Influenced  by  the  situation  of  their  country,  com- 
bined with  the  feeling  of  absolute  superiority  over 
all  other  peoples,  leaders  of  German  thought  pro- 
duced a  mass  of  literature  setting  forth  what   Ger- 

303 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

many  must  have,  and  indicating  the  methods  of 
achieving  her  aims.  These  ideas  reacted  on  minds 
already  persuaded  of  the  great  cultural  mission  of 
Germany  to  advance  civilization.  This  was  to  be  done 
in  accordance  with  Germany's  ideas  and  by  a  forceful 
method. 

I  quote  from  the  earlier  writers  who  greatly  influ- 
enced German  opinion  and  German  policy :  — 

We  must  create  a  Central  Europe  which  will  guarantee  the 
peace  of  the  entire  continent  from  the  moment  when  it  shall 
have  driven  the  Russians  from  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Slavs 
from  the  South,  and  shall  have  conquered  large  tracts  to  the 
east  of  our  frontiers  for  German  colonization.  We  cannot 
let  loose  ex  abrupto  the  war  which  will  create  this  Central 
Europe.  All  we  can  do  is  to  accustom  our  people  to  the 
thought  that  this  war  must  come.1 

Let  us  bravely  organize  great  forced  migrations  of  the 
inferior  peoples.  Posterity  will  be  grateful  to  us.  Coercion 
will  be  necessary.  Such  tasks  are  also  war-tasks.  Superiority 
of  creative  power  is  but  a  means.  .  .  .  Those  adversaries  who 
succumb,  as  they  try  to  bar  our  passage,  must  be  driven  into 
"  reserves"  where  we  shall  keep  them  segregated  that  we 
may  obtain  the  space  necessary  for  our  expansion.2 

If  we  take,  we  must  also  keep.  A  foreign  territory  is  not 
incorporated  until  the  day  when  the  rights  of  Germans  are 
rooted  in  its  soil.  With  all  necessary  prudence,  but  also  with 
inflexible  determination,  a  process  of  expropriation  should 
be  inaugurated,  by  which  the  Poles  and  the  Alsatians  and 
Lorrainers  would  be  gradually  transported  to  the  interior 
of  the  Empire,  while  Germans  would  replace  them  on  the 
frontiers.3 

In  1911,  Tannenberg  —  in  "Gross  Deutschland"  — 
worked  out  the  theories  and  plans  for  expansion  in 
Europe.   Dealing  with  Holland  he  says:  — 

1  Paul  de  Lagarde,  Deutsche  Sokriften  (4th  ed.,  1903),  p.  83. 

2  Klaus  Wagner,  Krieg  (1906).  3  F.  Lange,  Reines  Deutscklum. 

304 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

Germany  in  1870  had  many  reasons  to  act  against  Hol- 
land, since  her  King,  if  only  through  his  intention  of  having 
Luxemburg  obtained  for  Napoleon  III,  had  been  the  imme- 
diate occasion  for  the  war.  The  Francophile  tendencies  of 
King  William  III  of  Holland  were  at  that  time  well  known 
to  all  the  powers;  unfortunately  the  Minister  Thorbeke  suc- 
ceeded in  hindering  the  King  of  Holland  from  openly  taking 
the  part  of  France,  retarding  thus  the  annexation  of  the 
Netherlands  to  Germany  and  preserving  for  a  while  longer 
their  independence.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  that  opportunity 
should  have  been  lost.  If  the  inevitable  had  been  realized 
at  that  time,  the  hardships  inseparable  from  any  transfor- 
mation would  have  been  forgotten  to-day,  as  it  has  hap- 
pened in  the  case  of  Hanover. 

Holland  with  her  royal  family,  her  European  dominion 
and  her  colonies  in  South  America,  the  Isles  of  the  Sonde, 
and  of  Australasia,  must  come  into  the  German  Empire  as 
a  State  of  the  "  Bund."  The  same  is  true  for  Belgium.  The 
Congo  State  must  become  a  German  colony.  By  the  entry 
of  Belgium  into  the  German  Empire  the  ancient  German 
frontier  near  Lescaut,  of  the  time  of  Charles  V,  would  be 
reestablished.  It  would  be  the  beginning  of  the  reconstitu- 
tion  of  our  ancient  western  frontier.  We  finished  this  matter 
with  the  French  Republic  and  the  Napoleons  in  1871 ;  with 
the  kings  of  France,  and  in  particular,  with  Louis  XIV,  we 
have  not  yet  settled  our  accounts.  The  Continental  tariff 
frontier  of  Germany  in  the  West,  next  to  the  Netherlands, 
will  thus  be  suppressed,  and  the  ports  on  the  Meuse  and  the 
Rhine  will  recover  their  former  hinterland  and  will  know  a 
new  prosperity.  Luxemburg  and  Switzerland  will  enter  like- 
wise into  the  new  Empire,  while  preserving  their  actual  con- 
stitution. But  they  will  be  obliged  to  furnish  their  contin- 
gent to  the  defense  of  the  Empire  which  has  already  for  a 
long  time  protected  them,  conformably  to  the  necessities  of 
Greater  Germany. 

Frymann,  in  his  book,  "Wenn  ich  der  Kaiser  war!" 
says :  — 

We  shall,  therefore,  as  soon  as  our  antagonism  with  Eng- 

305 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

land  and  with  France  —  or  with  a  single  one  of  these  nations 
—  shall  give  rise  to  an  armed  conflict,  be  obliged  to  put  Hol- 
land and  Belgium  into  the  position  of  choosing  between  our 
adversaries  and  us.  If,  listening  to  the  voice  of  reason,  these 
two  States  decide  in  our  favor,  we  will  assure  them  their 
independence  under  the  same  title  as  that  of  the  other  con- 
federate States  of  the  German  Empire;  if  they  go  over  to  the 
enemy,  we  shall  purely  and  simply  annex  them,  all  in  antici- 
pation of  the  victory  of  the  German  armies. 

In  the  case  of  annexation,  there  would  be  incorporation 
with  Prussia,  in  such  a  way  that  the  two  new  provinces 
would  know  that  we  have  not  forgotten  the  lessons  taught 
us  by  the  resistance  of  the  Danes,  the  Poles,  and  of  the 
people  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  Their  colonies  would  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  administration  of  the  Empire,  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  would  support  the  expenses  pertaining  thereto. 
In  this  manner,  the  Belgian  and  Dutch  colonies,  which  are 
much  too  large  for  small  States,  could  be  developed  accord- 
ing to  their  value.  If  things  should  come  to  this  pass,  the 
mistakes  of  the  Hapsburgs  and  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
at  length  would  be  retrieved,  and  the  German  people  would 
have  finally  reconquered  their  ancient  possessions  on  the 
shores  of  the  North  Sea. 

Tannenberg,  writing  in  1911,  in  anticipation  of  a 
war  with  France  in  the  near  future,  defines  the  treaty 
of  peace  in  these  terms :  — 

1.  France  cedes  to  Germany  the  departments  of  the 
Vosges  with  Epinal,  Meurthe  et  Moselle  with  Nancy  and 
Luneville,  the  eastern  half  of  the  Meuse  with  Verdun,  and 
the  Ardennes  with  Sedan;  altogether  about  17,114  kilo- 
metres. This  country  is  at  the  present  time  sparsely  popu- 
lated, 69  inhabitants  to  the  kilometre.  This  is  hardly  half 
the  density  of  population  in  Germany.  This  country  of  the 
high  basins  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Moselle  to  be  ceded  to 
Germany  counts  only  1,192,453  inhabitants. 

2.  France  takes  the  inhabitants  of  these  territories  and 
installs  them  elsewhere.  This  migration  shall  be  carried  out 

306 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

in  the  space  of  one  year  dating  from  the  signature  of  the 
treaty  of  peace.  The  country  will  be  divided  into  rural  do- 
mains of  forty  to  sixty  arpents,  according  to  its  quality,  and 
will  be  divided  as  a  reward  among  German  soldiers  who 
shall  have  distinguished  themselves  during  the  war.  The 
immovable  properties  of  the  cities  shall  be  likewise  distrib- 
uted in  lots  of  approximately  the  same  value.  Soldiers  who 
fought  in  the  War  of  1870-71  will  also  be  admitted  to  this 
distribution. 

3.  Holland  with  her  royal  house  enters  into  the  German 
Empire  under  the  title  of  a  confederate  State  in  full  exer- 
cise. Holland  enters  into  a  German  tariff  union  (Zoll- 
verein)  without  paying  indemnity,  or  engaging  herself  to 
special  obligations,  which  constitutes  a  favor  of  special 
weight  in  all  the  affairs  of  this  country  especially  in  garden- 
ing and  agriculture,  which  at  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  profit 
by  such  happy  cliinatological  conditions.  Java  is  reserved 
to  Holland  as  a  private  colony.  The  other  colonies  of 
Insulinde,  Surinam,  and  Oceanica,  become  the  common 
property  of  the  German  Empire.  We  do  not  ask  from  Bel- 
gium any  special  advantage  from  the  colonial  point  of  view: 
on  the  contrary,  we  consider  that  a  possession  like  the  Congo 
State,  much  too  large  for  that  small  country,  must  in  its 
entirety  pass  under  the  power  and  the  protection  of  the 
great  German  people  and  of  the  German  Empire. 

4.  France  takes  the  Walloons  inhabiting  Belgium  to  colo- 
nize her  territories,  which  are  empty  of  inhabitants.  The 
migration  must  be  accomplished  in  three  years.  The  prop- 
erty of  the  Walloons  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts 
of  the  upper  Moselle  and  of  the  upper  Meuse,  merged  in  the 
new  province  of  Western  Franconia,  both  in  houses  and  in 
lands,  will  be  estimated  by  experts  and  paid  for  to  those 
having  rightful  tenure  by  the  Republic,  out  of  the  indemnity 
of  war  to  be  paid  by  France  to  Germany.  The  frontier 
regions  thus  emptied  along  the  middle  course  of  the  Meuse 
will  receive  an  immigration  of  German  soldiers  who  shall 
have  distinguished  themselves  during  the  war,  in  such  a 
manner  that  this  frontier  province  will  have  within  a  few 
years  a  purely  German  population.     The  abnormal  tariff 

307 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

frontier  between  the  German  Empire  and  its  ports  from  the 
Meuse  and  on  the  Rhine  will  thus  be  suppressed. 

5.  France  cedes  to  Germany  the  ownership  of  the  billions 
which  she  has  lent  to  Russia. 

6.  France  pays  to  Greater  Germany  thirty -five  billions 
of  marks  in  cash.  (This  is  half  the  liquid  funds  which  France 
boasts  of  possessing.  This  loss  will  strike  France  in  the 
spot  where  she  is  both  most  sensitive  and  most  able  to 
respond.  Money  has  been  since  the  end  of  the  First  Em- 
pire, the  idol  of  the  French  and  their  overthrow.  If  France 
had  not  had  more  liquid  money  than  any  other  people  on 
earth,  she  would  never  have  become  the  benevolent  banker 
who  imposes  his  loans  upon  our  enemies.  Let  us  take  from 
France  this  accursed  money  and  at  last  we  shall  have  peace; 
we  shall  pursue  our  pacific  development  and  be  able  to  take 
very  good  care  of  ourselves  without  system-of -six-children.) 

7.  France  declares  her  acceptance  of  the  incorporation  of 
Luxemburg  and  of  Switzerland  in  the  German  Empire. 

9.  France  renounces  her  fleet,  which  passes  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  German  Empire. 

10.  France  renounces  her  colonies,  except  Algeria,  to  the 
profit  of  Greater  Germany. 

12.  France  signs  the  new  treaty  of  commerce  with  Ger- 
many, which  is  adapted  to  the  conditions  created  by  the 
transfer  of  powers  from  one  to  the  other. 

Such  are  the  articles  of  the  Peace  of  Brussels  between 
Germany  and  France.  They  set  the  definitive  seal  of  supe- 
riority upon  the  German  people,  rich  in  children,  over 
France,  poor  in  children.  The  course  of  armaments  since 
the  Treaty  of  Frankfort  is  concluded.1 

Now,  a  short  time  later,  Frymann,  reviewing  the 
recent  book  of  Tannenberg,  considered  it  as  indeed  "a 
little  extravagant,"  but  recognized  that  the  more  im- 
portant German  reviews  here  and  there  expressed  an- 
alogous ideas.  So  that  it  must  be  frankly  admitted 
that  they  were  in  the  air.   And  he  adds :  — 

1  Gross  Deutschland,  pp.  237-39. 
308 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

Since  we  have  touched,  in  passing,  upon  the  "question  of 
evacuations,"  let  us  say  here  that  it  is  not  perhaps  so  much 
out  of  place  to  speak  openly  on  this  point,  in  order  that  our 
adversaries  may  know  clearly  that  such  desperate  measures 
already  find  defenders  in  Germany;  they  will  understand 
then,  that  a  certain  prudence  is  absolutely  imposed  upon 
them,  for  it  will  not  answer  to  excite  too  much  the  furor 
Teutonicus. 

To  the  man  formed  on  traditional  ideas,  his  hair  will  stand 
on  end,  at  the  demand  that  a  country  inhabited  by  Euro- 
peans should  be  evacuated,  which  signifies  the  violent  inter- 
ruption of  a  development  many  centuries  old;  furthermore, 
this  thought  wounds  the  sentiments  of  the  cultivated  man, 
and  it  is  in  opposition  to  the  modern  theory  of  the  rights  of 
man  which  protect  in  their  possessions  the  private  citizens 
of  belligerent  nations.  But  if  we  look  deeply  into  the  par- 
ticular situation  of  the  German  people,  which  is  completely 
encircled  in  Europe,  and  which,  if  it  continues  its  vigorous 
growth,  would  run  the  risk  of  stifling  unless  it  could  give 
itself  air,  it  must  be  clearly  recognized  that  the  case  may 
present  itself  in  which  Germany  shall  have  to  require  from 
her  vanquished  adversaries  depopulated  regions,  either  on 
the  west  or  on  the  east,  —  unless,  indeed,  we  have  beyond 
the  sea  colonies  to  populate,  or  shall  make  up  our  minds  to 
tolerate  anew  an  emigration  of  Germans  into  foreign  coun- 
tries. 

We  must  not  think  of  an  offensive  war,  for  the  purpose 
of  the  occupation  of  foreign  territory,  with  their  evacuation 
as  our  object;  but  we  must,  on  the  other  hand,  accustom 
ourselves  to  holding  such  measures  admissible,  as  response 
to  an  enemy  attack;  while  a  war  of  brigandage  (Raubkrieg) 
is  repugnant  to  our  conceptions,  a  punishment  for  a  criminal 
aggression  appears  to  us  justified,  even  if  it  takes  this 
severest  form,  for  "necessity  knows  no  law."  We  may, 
moreover,  in  this  sense,  consider  as  equivalent  to  a  defen- 
sive war  any  war  which  should  be  conducted  offensively 
from  the  German  side,  but  which  we  should  have  been 
obliged  to  undertake  to  anticipate  our  enemies.1 
1  Wenn  ich  der  Kaiser  war  I  pp.  140-41. 
309 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  treatment  of  conquered  people  is  thus  described 
by  K.  F.  Wolff,  a  distinguished  ethnographer :  — 

Conquerors  are  acting  according  to  the  laws  of  biology 
and  logic  when  they  endeavor  to  do  away  with  foreign  lan- 
guage and  to  annihilate  foreign  nationality.  Hence  there 
must  be  no  compromise,  but  merely  insistence  upon  the 
right  of  sovereignty,  the  widest  possible  extension  of  power 
and  the  sternest  refusal  of  political  rights. 

The  constitution  is  made  for  the  conqueror,  never  for  the 
conquered.  Let  the  conquered  enjoy  the  rights  of  man,  but 
under  no  pretext  the  rights  of  sovereignty.  We  are  born 
men,  we  win  the  position  of  lords  and  masters  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

Referring  to  France  he  says :  — 

The  conquering  nation  must  be  rich  in  men,  so  that  it 
may  be  able  to  flood  the  conquered  country  with  its  own 
people.  Hence  only  nations  with  large  populations  have  a 
moral  right  to  conquest;  for  it  is  unjust  that  such  a  nation 
should  be  overcrowded  within  its  frontiers,  while  a  neigh- 
boring people  with  fewer  citizens  should  live  luxuriously  on 
richer  territory.  It  is  still  more  unjust,  it  is  really  criminal, 
that  a  nation  with  a  decreasing  birth-rate  should  take  pos- 
session of  foreign  countries  with  the  sole  and  unworthy 
object  of  recruiting  soldiers  whom  it  needs  for  the  realization 
of  its  selfish  schemes.1 

He  deals  with  the  ethics  of  conquest  in  these 
words :  — 

The  conqueror  must  have  an  absolute  will  to  dominate, 
and  must  strive  for  the  political  and  ethnical  annihilation  of 
the  vanquished.    He  must  entirely  ignore  the  fallacy  that 

1  From  the  Kblnische  Zeitung:  "For  the  last  hundred  years  there  has 
been  no  progress  in  any  branch  of  French  industry." 

From  Paul  Rohrbach  {Der  deutsche  Gedanke  in  der  Welt) :  "As  for  France: 
'Her  destiny,  for  reasons  which,  in  spite  of  all  proffered  explanations, 
remain  among  the  enigmas  presiding  over  the  birth  and  death  of  peoples, 
seems  to  be  that  she  must  disappear  from  the  list  of  great  nations.' " 

310 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

the  vanquished  have  the  right  to  maintain  their  language 
and  nationality.  A  victorious  people,  invading  a  country, 
must  insist  upon  its  privileges  in  the  most  ruthless  manner; 
it  will  commit  no  injustice  in  doing  so,  it  will  merely  derive 
the  natural  consequences  of  its  position. 

Such  men  as  this  can  conquer,  they  are  allowed  to  con- 
quer, it  is  their  duty  to  conquer.  They  must  be  suzerain, 
both  for  their  own  advantage  and  that  of  others.  For  inva- 
sion by  a  noble,  high-minded  race  does  not  mean  annihila- 
tion but  amelioration,  it  is  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  of 
armies,  and  his  work  is  a  work  of  deliverance! 

Dealing  with  these  small  nations,  Herr  Rohrbach 
writes :  — 

In  comparison  with  former  days  the  realm  of  science  is 
now  so  stupendous  that  only  a  great  nation  is  capable  of 
coping  with  it.  German  students  outside  our  frontiers,  the 
Dutch,  and  our  more  distant  kinsmen,  the  Scandinavians, 
are  all  obliged  to  form  a  kind  of  fraternity  with  German 
science,  both  in  order  to  rear  scholars  and  to  facilitate  their 
researches;  they  are  too  few  in  number  to  be  able  to  produce 
first-rate  scientific  work  or  institutions  in  all  branches.  .  .  . 
This  also  applies  to  other  spheres.  Just  in  the  same  way  that 
small  States  cannot  build  a  fleet  of  modern  Dreadnoughts, 
because  they  would  be  ruined  by  the  cost  of  one,  so  they  are 
incapable  of  producing  a  complete  civilization  from  base  to 
apex  because  it  requires  too  broad  a  foundation. 

Tannenberg  elaborates  the  policy  of  the  new  and 
greater  German  Empire :  — 

We  wish  in  a  new  Empire  to  begin  a  new  life  whose 
supreme  law  is  the  welfare  of  the  Germans,  and  to  execute 
this  law  shall  be  the  principal  task  of  Greater  Germany.  All 
special  laws  are  only  corollaries  to  this  fundamental  law. 

The  Reichstag  of  Greater  Germany  is  elected  by  universal 
suffrage.  The  rights  of  the  electors  may  be  acquired  by 
every  married  man  of  thirty.  The  right  to  vote  is  conferred 
upon  all  those  who  are  admitted  to  the  rights  of  full  citizen- 

311 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

ship.  Only  those  can  become  full  citizens  whose  mother- 
tongue  is  German,  whose  culture  is  the  object  of  the  common 
school,  whose  blood  is  purely  German,  and  who  take  the 
civil  oath.  The  rights  of  full  citizenship  may  be  withdrawn 
by  the  court  for  transactions,  words,  or  acts  contrary  to  the 
interests  of  Germanism. 

Books,  newspapers,  periodicals,  and  circulars  can  appear 
only  in  German.  Books  coming  from  outside  can  be  imported 
only  with  the  authority  of  the  State  and  for  a  revenue  stamp 
of  one  hundred  per  cent  ad  valorem.  Foreign  newspapers 
must  obtain  the  same  authorization,  pay  the  same  tax,  and 
bear  the  same  stamp.  The  State  has  the  right  to  requisition 
gratuitously  from  each  newspaper  the  first  page  of  the  chief 
edition  to  expose  to  the  people  the  views  of  the  Government 
without  party  interpretation.  .  .  . 

In  greater  Germany  no  foreigner  can  acquire  houses  or 
estates,  etc.1 

We  can  note  the  partial  working-out  of  these  ideas 
in  the  deportations  from  Belgium  and  Lille  and  other 
parts  of  occupied  France,  and  also  in  the  spoliation  of 
Poland. 

V.  The  Belgian  Deportations 

Great  distress  to  her  inhabitants  was  the  natural 
result  of  the  stripping  of  Belgium,  so  well  described  by 
Dr.  Rathenau  and  Dr.  Ganghofer.  Just  as  in  Poland, 
everything  was  done  to  increase  the  wealth  of  Ger- 
many and  to  compel  the  Belgian  workmen  to  emigrate 
to  Germany.  But  the  Belgians  proved  stubborn. 
They  refused  to  assist  Germany  to  win  the  war  against 
their  own  brothers,  and  there  was  no  voluntary  emi- 
gration on  their  part. 

The  "Kolnische  Zeitung"  makes  the  following 
admission :  — 

1  Gross  Deutschland,  pp.  82-83. 
312 


GERMAN   THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

The  spirit  of  the  Belgian  people  is  invincible;  the  meager 
results  we  have  obtained  by  violence  in  Alsace  in  forty-five 
years  will  not  be  won  in  Belgium  in  less  than  a  hundred. 

And  that  in  spite  of  terrible  suffering  and  misery, 
while  they  saw  their  food  being  used  to  support  their 
enemies.  Professor  Ballod  states  that  Belgium  and 
northern  France  fed  three  million  German  soldiers  the 
first  year. 

Although  the  Hague  Conventions  agreed  to  by 
Germany  stipulate  that  "the  maintenance  of  the  civil 
population  of  an  occupied  territory  must  be  exactly 
what  its  own  Government  would  have  done,  and  that 
mainly  out  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  territory 
itself,"  and  further,  that  "requisitions  can  only  be 
demanded,  and  services  imposed  on  the  communes  and 
their  inhabitants  generally  for  the  needs  of  the  occupy- 
ing army,"  in  January,  1915,  it  was  decided  that  "the 
resources  of  the  subjected  country  should  be  devoted 
to  the  use  of  the  German  Army,  and  also  of  the  indus- 
tries assigned  to  its  service."  Dr.  Ganghofer,  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  the  Kaiser's,  studied  the  Belgian  situa- 
tion in  February,  1915,  and  his  report  concludes  that 
"all  the  financial  resources  of  the  territories  we  have 
conquered  have  been  swallowed  up,  and  secured  for  our 
benefit." 

On  May  2,  1916,  the  German  authorities  assumed 
the  exclusive  right  to  provide  work  for  the  unem- 
ployed. Any  person  who  gave  work  to  an  unemployed 
man,  without  the  sanction  of  the  German  authorities, 
would  be  punished  with  a  fine  of  five  thousand  dollars 
and  three  years  imprisonment.  All  appeal  to  the 
courts  was  denied.  On  May  13,  1916,  this  order  was 
issued :  — 

313 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

Authorized  governors,  military  commandants,  and  chiefs 
of  districts  to  order  the  unemployed  to  be  removed  by  force 
to  the  places  where  they  are  to  work. 

In  the  "Contemporary  Review"  for  January,  1917, 
Demetrius  C.  Boulger  states:  — 

Since  that  appeal  the  deportations  of  the  able-bodied  male 
population  have  been  carried  out  on  a  wholesale  scale.  It  is 
computed  that  at  the  moment  of  writing  they  reach  a  total 
of  350,000  persons,  but  it  seems  probable  that  before  they 
cease  this  total  will  be  doubled.  Already  a  further  number 
of  50,000  from  Brussels  alone  have  been  deported.  In  some 
places,  notably  in  Limburg,  all  the  males  from  fifteen  to 
fifty -five  have  been  removed,  and  in  the  Hasselt  district,  for 
some  obscure  reason,  girls  possessing  sewing-machines  have 
also  been  carried  off  with  them.  Soon,  very  soon,  there  will 
not  be  left  in  Belgium  any  but  women,  children,  and  old 
men.  It  would  have  been  a  mercy,  it  would  have  revealed 
some  slight  trace  of  human  compassion,  to  have  deported 
them  to  the  same  place  as  their  husbands  and  sons.  But 
that  is  not  the  German  way. 

There  is  one  voice  from  Belgium  that  has  reached 
all  hearts  not  blinded  by  ignorance,  and  that  is  the 
voice  of  Cardinal  Mercier.  Among  the  heroes  of  this 
war  he  holds  an  honorable  place.  This  is  his  appeal  to 
the  neutral  world :  — 

Cardinal  Mercier' 's  protest  against  the  deportation  of  Belgians 

The  military  authorities  are  daily  deporting  thousands  of 
inoffensive  citizens  in  order  to  set  them  to  forced  labor. 

As  early  as  October  19,  we  sent  a  protest  to  the  Governor- 
General,  a  copy  of  which  was  also  sent  to  the  representa- 
tives in  Brussels  of  the  Holy  See,  Spain,  the  United  States, 
and  the  Netherlands.  The  Governor-General,  in  reply, 
refused  to  take  any  steps. 

At  that  time  the  ordinances  threatened  only  unemployed 

314 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

men.  To-day  all  able-bodied  men  are  carried  off  pell-mell, 
penned  up  in  trucks,  and  deported  to  unknown  destinations, 
like  slave  gangs. 

The  enemy  proceeds  by  regions.  Vague  reports  have 
reached  us  that  arrests  have  been  made  successively  at 
Tournai,  Ghent,  and  Alost,  but  we  are  unaware  of  the  cir- 
cumstances. 

Between  October  24  and  the  beginning  of  November  the 
enemy  operated  in  the  regions  of  Mons,  Quievrain,  St.  Ghis- 
lain,  and  Jemappes,  from  800  to  1200  men  being  rounded  up 
daily.  To-morrow  and  the  following  days  he  intends  to  fall 
on  the  Nivelles  Arrondissement. 

A  poster  orders  all  males  to  present  themselves  at  Nivelles 
on  November  8,  provided  with  identification  and  registra- 
tion cards.  They  are  permitted  to  bring  only  a  small  hand- 
bag. Clergymen,  doctors,  barristers,  and  schoolmasters  are 
exempt.  Burgomasters  are  held  responsible  for  the  execution 
of  the  order.  There  is  an  interval  of  twenty -four  hours  be- 
tween the  posting  of  the  order  and  deportation. 

Under  the  pretext  of  the  necessity  to  carry  out  public 
works  on  Belgian  soil,  the  occupying  power  had  tried  to 
obtain  from  the  communes  lists  of  unemployed  workmen, 
which  the  majority  of  the  communes  proudly  refused  to 
give. 

Three  decrees  of  the  Governor-General  paved  the  way  for 
the  blow  which  was  struck  us  to-day.  The  first,  issued  August 
15, 1915,  ordered  forced  labor  for  the  unemployed  under  pain 
of  imprisonment  and  a  fine,  but  stated  that  it  was  only  a 
question  of  work  in  Belgium.  The  second,  issued  May  2, 
gives  the  German  authorities  the  right  to  provide  work  for 
the  unemployed,  any  unauthorized  person  giving  work  being 
liable  to  three  years'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  twenty 
thousand  marks.  The  third  decree,  issued  May  13,  author- 
ized the  governors  and  military  commanders  to  issue  or- 
ders for  the  unemployed  to  be  forcibly  taken  to  places  for 
work. 

It  was  already  a  matter  of  forced  labor  for  Belgium.  To- 
day it  is  no  longer  a  question  of  forced  labor  in  Belgium,  but 
in  Germany  for  the  Germans'  benefit. 

315 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  whole  truth  is  that  each  deported  workman  means 
another  soldier  for  the  German  Army.  He  will  take  the 
place  of  a  German  workman,  who  will  be  made  a  soldier. 

The  situation  which  we  denounce  to  the  civilized  world 
may  be  summed  up  as  follows:  Four  hundred  thousand 
workmen  are  reduced  to  unemployment  through  no  fault  of 
their  own,  and  largely  inconvenience  the  German  occupa- 
tion. Sons,  husbands,  fathers,  respectful  of  public  order, 
bow  to  their  unhappy  lot.  With  their  most  pressing  needs 
provided  for,  they  await  with  dignity  the  end  of  their 
period  of  trial. 

Now,  suddenly,  parties  of  soldiers  begin  to  enter  by  force 
these  peaceful  homes,  tearing  youth  from  parent,  husband 
from  wife,  father  from  children.  They  bar  with  the  bayo- 
net the  door  through  which  wives  and  mothers  wish  to 
pass  to  say  farewell  to  those  departing.  They  herd  their 
captives  in  groups  of  tens  and  twenties  and  push  them  into 
cars.  As  soon  as  the  train  is  filled  the  officer  in  charge 
brusquely  waves  the  signal  for  departure.  Thus  thousands 
of  Belgians  are  being  reduced  to  slavery. 

The  Germans  are  not  only  enrolling  the  unemployed,  but 
they  are  also  recruiting  a  great  number  of  men  who  have 
never  been  out  of  work. 

A  special  appeal  to  the  most  powerful  neutral  coun- 
try comes  from  the  Holland  section  of  the  League  of 
Neutral  Nations. 

To  America  from  Holland: — 

To  us  this  cruelty  is  more  vivid  every  day.  Every  day 
numbers  of  fugitives,  in  spite  of  the  deadly  electric  wire 
which  the  Germans  have  erected  along  the  frontier,  succeed 
in  escaping  to  the  Netherlands.  From  them  we  learn  the 
painful  details  of  the  unutterable  despair  of  the  women  and 
children  who  are  left  behind  and  of  the  agonizing  scenes 
which  take  place  when  husbands,  brothers,  and  sons, 
dragged  from  their  homes  and  women-folk,  are  packed  into 
cattle  and  freight  cars  and  thus  transported  to  an  unknown 
destination  and  to  an  unknown  fate. 

316 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

Mr.  Alfred  Noyes  makes  an  eloquent  and  moving 
appeal  in  the  "Outlook"  for  January  24,  1917.  His 
material  is  at  first  hand,  and  I  make  from  it  some  ex- 
tracts :  — 

In  the  slave  trains  they  are  treated  worse  than  cattle. 
Sixty  men  are  crammed  into  a  wagon  for  forty.  The  wagons 
are  open  to  wind  and  rain,  and  no  food,  or  very  little,  is 
provided.  Yet  as  these  trains  of  slaves  (who  can  never  be 
slaves  while  life  remains  to  them)  roll  into  the  stranger's 
land,  the  silent  crowds  who  watch  them  hear  the  thunder  of 
their  national  songs;  hear  a  nobler  music  than  all  the  art  of 
Germany  could  ever  produce;  hear  these  prisoners,  that  are 
kings,  chanting  the  "Brabagonne"  and  "The  Lion  of 
Flanders." 

"We  used  to  think  that  music  crude,"  said  a  Belgian  to 
me  recently,  "but  we  cannot  hear  it  now  without  tears." 

Aprfo  des  siecles  d'esclavage, 
Le  Beige  sortant  du  tombeau 
A  reconquis  par  son  courage 
Son  nom,  ses  droits,  et  son  drapeau; 
Et  ta  main,  souveraine  et  fibre, 
Peuple,  desormais  indompte, 
Grava  sur  ta  vieille  bannibre 
Le  Roi,  la  Loi,  la  LibertS. 

And  what  a  symphony  is  there,  transcending  anything 
that  the  imagination  of  Beethoven  conceived!  There,  over 
the  sobs  and  cries  of  the  women  and  children,  with  the  mut- 
ter of  the  redeeming  guns  already  upon  the  horizon,  rises 
that  mighty  chorus,  as  the  trains  move  out  with  their  tri- 
umphing loads  of  white  slaves;  and  circumstances  have 
added  a  little  to  that  song :  — 

They  never  shall  tame  him  to  slavery, 

The  proud  Lion  of  Flanders, 
Their  fetters  may  menace  his  freedom, 

Yet  shall  his  freedom  endure. 
They  never  shall  tame  him  to  slavery, 

The  proud  Lion  of  Flanders, 
So  long  as  the  claws  of  the  Lion 

Can  strike,  and  one  Fleming  draws  breath. 

317 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Time  makes  a  havoc  of  cities. 

Thrones  may  perish  like  snow. 
Armies  are  hurled  to  destruction. 

The  people,  the  people  shall  live. 
Our  enemies  come  in  their  harness. 

With  the  shadow  of  death  they  surround  us. 
We  laugh,  we  laugh  at  their  fury. 

The  Lion  of  Flanders  is  here. 

Woe  to  the  foe  in  his  folly 

Who  comes  with  his  heart  full  of  treason, 
Feigns  to  caress  the  old  Lion, 

And  then  lifts  his  hand  up  to  strike. 
Ay,  when  they  think  he  is  dying, 

And  spurn  him,  and  mock  at  his  weakness, 
The  Lion  of  Flanders  arises 

And  lifts  the  slow  wrath  of  his  name. 

They  never  shall  tame  him  to  slavery, 
The  proud  Lion  of  Flanders  .  .  . 

The  New  York  "Evening  Post"  for  February  3, 
1917,  publishes  a  letter  from  its  Paris  correspondent, 
giving  some  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  deportations 
from  Belgium  and  France.  The  writer,  Mr.  Stoddard 
Dewey,  is  one  of  the  most  careful  and  trustworthy 
correspondents  in  Europe.  I  have  known  him  for 
many  years.   He  writes :  — 

Cardinal  Mercier's  latest  words  tell  us  what  is  happening 
in  Belgium  and  Northern  France.  Cardinal  Mercier  says :  — 

I  have  seen  hundreds  of  my  flock  in  danger  and  tears. 
For  three  days,  Sunday,  Monday,  Tuesday,  November 
20,  21,  and  22,  morning  and  evening,  I  went  through 
the  regions  where  the  first  workmen  and  artisans  of 
my  diocese  were  taken  away  by  force  into  exile.  At 
Wavre,  Court  St.  Etienne,  Nivelles,  Tubize,  Braine- 
FAlleud,  I  entered  more  than  a  hundred  homes  half 
empty.  The  husband  was  away,  the  children  were 
orphaned,  the  sisters  were  seated  with  dull  eyes  and 
lifeless  arms  at  the  sewing-machine  —  all  was  in  mourn- 

318 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

ful  silence.  You  would  have  said  there  was  a  corpse  in 
the  house.  Scarcely  did  I  speak  a  word  of  sympathy  to 
the  mother  than  sobs  broke  forth  and  lamenting  and 
words  of  anger,  with  proud  outbursts.  The  remem- 
brance of  these  heart-rending  scenes  never  leaves  me. 

A  private  letter  of  Cardinal  Mercier,  which  reached  us 
here  in  Paris  last  week,  adds :  — ■ 

Pray  for  dear  Belgium,  suffering  as  she  never  suffered 
before.  These  hateful  deportations,  this  unpeopling  of 
our  homes,  the  anguish  of  those  spared  until  now,  have 
brought  about  a  general  state  of  depression  which  we 
had  not  known  till  now.  Souls  are  inhabited  by  grief 
and  terror  and  hatred. 

A  few,  said  to  have  been  deported  "by  mistake," 
have  come  back.  They  say  the  treatment  they  have 
had  to  undergo  is  beyond  all  we  can  imagine  —  hunger, 
cold,  exhaustion,  so  calculated  on  that  the  world  can  be 
informed  only  those  "voluntarily"  out  of  work  have 
been  taken.  We  are  all  of  us  imprisoned  here,  but  if 
neutrals  knew  the  treatment  of  us,  I  believe  they  would 
not  limit  themselves  to  verbal  protests  —  otherwise  we 
should  have  to  despair  of  fraternal  charity  and  human- 
ity. .  .  .  We  remain  steadfast.  We  wish  only  a  peace 
signed  with  honor,  lasting  and  restoring. 

Before  giving  the  incidents  of  the  deportations  —  inci- 
dents which  have  been  furnished  me  at  first  hand,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  officially  —  I  translate  literally  words  from 
an  official  letter  addressed  by  Lieutenant-General  Hurt, 
Military  Governor  of  Brussels  and  Brabant,  to  the  burgo- 
masters of  his  district.  The  letter  is  dated  November  12, 
and  was  published  in  the  German  organ  at  Brussels,  "La 
Belgique,"  on  the  17th:  — 

I  insist  on  this  fact  that  workmen,  once  they  have 
been  transported  into  Germany,  will  be  able  to  return 
to  Belgium  only  in  exceptional  cases  of  extreme 
urgency  or  justified  by  reasons  beyond  dispute. 

319 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Such  a  letter  is  a  necessary  comment  on  nearly  all  that 
follows. 

The  panic-terror  into  which  the  Belgian  population  has 
been  thrown  may  be  imagined  from  information  of  the  lat- 
ter half  of  December  concerning  the  state  of  things  along 
the  Holland  frontier.  North  of  Antwerp  the  Dutch  villages 
have  been  invaded  by  hundreds  of  fugitives  who  have  man- 
aged to  get  out  of  Belgium.  "  They  sleep  in  all  the  barns  and 
on  the  farm  floors.  At  night  there  is  not  one  bundle  of  straw 
available."  (December  17.)  A  letter  received  in  London 
says,  about  the  same  time,  that  some  of  the  deported  con- 
trived to  drop  out  of  the  trains  while  still  in  Belgium  and 
get  to  the  Dutch  frontier.  This  so  exasperated  the  German 
authorities  that  they  posted  the  following  notice  in  the  com- 
munes of  Gemmenich,  Monzen,  and  others :  — 

It  is  forbidden  to  give  shelter  to  any  Belgian  civilian 
who  is  between  fifteen  and  twenty  years  of  age.  It  is 
compulsory  to  denounce  any  such  civilian  to  the  Ger- 
man police.  Those  who  transgress  this  order  are  liable 
to  the  penalty  of  death. 

A  correspondence  from  known  sources  gives  these  details 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  deportation  is  begun :  — 

In  a  little  village  near  Diest  an  officer  and  forty  sol- 
diers of  the  Landsturm  arrived.  Sentinels  with  loaded 
guns  were  posted  at  each  end  of  the  village  street.  Then 
the  other  soldiers  searched  in  all  the  houses  and  tore 
away  from  their  homes  all  able-bodied  men,  whether 
they  were  out  of  work  or  not.  In  a  little  while  they  had 
gathered  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  the  village  square. 
The  officer  called  his  men  together,  and  the  slaves  were 
led  off  along  the  highway  to  Diest.  You  can  imagine 
how  painful  it  was.  Women  and  children  were  in  tears, 
and  the  men  were  trying  to  kiss  their  dear  ones  a  last 
time.  It  was  abominable,  and  the  officer  was  joyful,  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men  as  the  result  of  such  a  raid 
was  remarkable.  And  this  is  how  Lieutenant  von  Bis- 
sing  came  back  to  Diest,  swelling  and  rejoicing. 

320 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

I  have  been  unable  to  learn  if  this  warlike  lieutenant  is 
anything  to  Governor- General  von  Bissing,  who,  it  is  just 
announced,  will  leave  Belgium,  his  day's  work  done.  Around 
Brussels,  but  not  yet  in  the  capital,  these  razzias  —  veritable 
slave-drives  —  began  in  December  at  Woluwe  St.  fitienne. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  carried  on  around  Namur  and 
through  the  Belgian  province  of  Luxemburg.  At  Arlon,  in 
the  latter  province,  most  of  the  National  Aid  and  Food 
Committee,  who  have  had  charge  of  distributing  American 
provisions,  have  been  carried  off.  The  details  are  edify- 
ing. 

At  two  o'clock  of  Tuesday,  November  28,  red  posters 
summoned  all  the  men  of  the  town  indiscriminately,  from 
seventeen  to  fifty -five  years  of  age,  to  come  to  the  building 
which  had  been  the  Jesuits'  Novitiate  at  eight  o'clock 
Thursday  morning.  Of  those  who  answered  the  summons 
four  hundred  were  chosen  out,  not  one  of  them  being  with- 
out work  at  home.  The  excuse  for  these  deportations  has 
been  that  Belgians  were  eating  their  heads  off  in  idleness. 
More  than  half  of  the  four  hundred  were  employees,  mer- 
chants' sons,  middle-class  people,  between  eighteen  and 
thirty  years  of  age.  The  rest  were  workmen  of  every  kind. 
Besides  these  four  hundred,  a  number  of  railway  workers 
were  taken  and  kept  by  themselves  during  five  days,  and 
subjected  to  alternate  promises  and  threats  to  induce  them 
to  work  for  the  German  military  authorities. 

Among  the  four  hundred  there  were  forty-three  members 
of  the  Food  Committee;  the  director  for  the  whole  region, 
a  man  of  forty;  the  secretary-general,  of  about  the  same  age, 
and  nearly  all  those  actively  employed,  even  to  the  type- 
writer of  nineteen.  Those  who  kept  the  provision  depots 
(American  supplies,  for  the  most  part)  and  the  managers  of 
the  distribution  in  six  neighboring  communes,  including 
chauffeurs,  carmen,  and  laborers,  were  all  taken.  It  is  hard 
to  see  how  this  part  of  Belgium  is  now  to  obtain  a  sufficient 
distribution  of  food.  Of  the  foregoing,  I  have  been  given 
the  names  and  employments.  As  I  write,  information  which 
I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  verify  comes  to  hand  that,  in  one 
such  center,  an  immense  quantity  of  American  provisions 

321 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

was  left  without  keepers  and  has  been  carted  off  by  the  Ger- 
man authorities. 

At  Dour,  a  little  place  in  Hainaut,  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  men  were  carried  off  to  Germany,  of  whom  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  were  actually  taken  by  force  from  their 
work.  Of  twenty  others  deported  as  workmen  out  of  work, 
not  one  was  yet  seventeen  years  old  —  and  four  of  them 
were  students  at  school.  In  the  single  locality  of  Andennes, 
province  of  Namur,  seven  hundred  and  sixty  men  of  every 
condition  of  life  were  carried  off.  The  women  followed  the 
German  soldiers,  spitting  at  them  in  their  despair  —  and 
the  soldiers  seemed  ashamed  of  what  they  were  doing  "  by 
superior  order." 

The  Belgian  Syndicalist  Committee,  in  the  name  of  both 
Socialists  and  Independents,  declared  to  Governor-General 
von  Bissing:  — 

Citizens  of  a  modern  state,  without  having  infringed 
regulations  or  decrees,  are  thus  condemned  in  mass  to 
forced  labor. 

The  Municipal  Council  of  Brussels  added :  — 

It  is  certain  that  the  labor  which  is  to  be  imposed  on 
our  countrymen  has  for  its  exclusive  aim  to  fortify 
Germany  economically,  and  even  militarily.  This  cir- 
cumstance shows  still  more  clearly  the  character  of 
slavery  and  servitude  with  which  the  measure  threatens 
our  citizens. 

So  far  I  have  spoken  only  of  men.  I  do  not  dare  to  publish 
details  furnished  me  of  the  deportation  of  women  —  medical 
examinations,  such  as  soldiers  are  subjected  to,  which  for 
the  daughters  of  invaded  Belgium  and  France  are  but  the 
beginning  of  unspeakable  evil. 

The  following  "appeal  of  the  women  of  France  to  the 
women  of  all  countries"  has  been  issued:  — 

Among  the  solemn  protests  which  the  whole  world  is 
raising  against  the  deportations,  French  women  wish 
that  their  voices  should  be  heard. 

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GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

How  can  they  help  trembling  with  indignation  as 
they  learn  that,  under  the  German  yoke,  there  disap- 
pears all  respect  for  the  family  and  its  ties?  They  learn 
that  women  of  France,  of  Belgium  and  Servia,  and 
others  still  have  been  or  are  to  be  torn  cruelly  from  their 
husbands  and  children  whenever  the  invader  needs 
them  for  the  service  of  his  officers  or  mills  or  trenches. 

Among  all  the  enemy's  crimes,  not  one  so  chokes  with 
anxiety  the  heart  of  woman.  Is  it  not  round  the  woman 
that  every  civilization  has  grouped  the  family?  Is  it 
not  the  long  patience  of  woman  that,  through  the  cen- 
turies, has  defended  the  intimacy  of  home,  the  weak- 
ness of  childhood,  the  morality  of  youth? 

This  is  why  we  invite  women  —  all  women  —  to  join 
in  our  protest.  All  are  enlightened,  not  one  can  be  ignor- 
ant of  international  laws  slowly  wrought  out  for  the 
safeguard  of  non-combatants  —  and  none  can  be  ignor- 
ant that,  by  the  very  avowal  of  those  who  are  respon- 
sible, such  laws  have  been  trampled  under  foot. 

The  stirring  protests  of  the  highest  political,  social, 
and  religious  authorities  have  been  unable  to  stop 
these  brutal  dispersions.  The  criminal  governments 
pursue  them,  counting  on  the  fear  or  apathy  of  the 
peoples. 

Are  they  to  have  the  support  of  women's  silence? 
Shall  women  forget  that  the  respect  of  another's  right 
is  the  surest  guarantee  of  our  own  right  and  that  — 
should  history  in  its  returns  expose  to  like  dangers  other 
generations  and  other  peoples  —  they  and  their  daugh- 
ters could  lift  up  their  voices  neither  to  complain  nor 
in  malediction? 

To  whatever  country  she  may  belong  —  ally,  neutral, 
or  enemy  —  each  woman  must  acknowledge  her  respon- 
sibility. To  be  silent  is  to  absolve  the  soldiers  who  vio- 
late homes  and  arrest  passers-by  to  choose  their  victims 
—  it  is  to  become  their  accomplice.  To  be  silent  is  for- 
ever to  renounce  all  appeal  to  right  and  treaties,  all 
demand  that  to  private  or  public  action  there  shall  be 
given  the  authority  of  a  moral  foundation. 

323 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Who  is  the  woman  that  will  refuse  to  hear  our  appeal 
and  judge  savagery? 

Let  all  those  whose  home  is  respected  unite  in  one 
movement  of  justice  and  compassion.  From  the  height 
of  their  anguish  and  sorrow,  our  sisters,  victims  of 
force,  can  now  hope  for  help  only  from  the  conscience 
of  the  world. 

(Signed)  National  Council  of  French  Women  (150 
societies);  French  Union  for  Woman's  Suffrage 
(80  regional  groups) ;  Society  for  the  Improvement 
of  Women's  Lot;  Fraternal  Union  of  Women; 
Society  of  Women's  Suffrage  (representing  alto- 
gether more  than  1,000,000  French  women). 

I  quote  here  the  opinion  of  ex-Secretary  Root,  one 
of  the  greatest  men  who  ever  filled  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  State  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Root  said  at 
Carnegie  Hall,  Friday,  December  15, 1916:  — 

I  am  glad  to  join  my  voice  to-night  with  my  fellows  in 
this  free  land  in  condemnation  and  protest  upon  this  new 
outrage  that  is  visited  on  the  sore  and  bleeding  Belgians. 

Poor  Belgium  —  her  stern  and  noble  resolve  to  keep  the 
faith  was  her  only  crime,  and  she  has  been  punished  as  if 
her  people  were  the  vilest  on  earth.  Her  towns  have  been 
burned,  her  noble  and  stately  monuments  have  been  leveled 
to  the  earth,  her  women  and  children  and  old  men  have  been 
murdered,  her  country  has  been  brought  under  the  sway  of 
a  foreign  invader,  and  now  she  has  been  bled  white  by  vast 
exactions  of  money  and  of  produce.  Every  effort  for  her  to 
revive  her  industries  has  been  denied,  and  now,  because  she 
has  suffered  thus,  her  men  are  to  be  carried  away  to  forced 
labor  as  slaves. 

Let  me  read  the  effective  words  of  that  great-hearted  and 
noble  prelate,  whose  figure,  appealing  to  all  that  is  best  in 
humanity  throughout  the  world,  fearless  of  the  mighty 
power  that  seeks  to  constrain  him,  will  make  the  name  of 
Cardinal  Mercier  great  in  history.  Let  me  read  from  his 
pathetic  appeal :  — 

324 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

We,  the  shepherds  of  these  sheep  who  are  torn  from 
us  by  brutal  force,  full  of  anguish  at  the  thought  of  the 
moral  and  religious  isolation  in  which  they  are  about  to 
languish,  impotent  at  once  of  the  grief  and  terror  in  the 
numerous  homes  shattered  or  threatened,  appeal  to  all 
souls,  believers  or  unbelievers,  in  Allied  countries,  in 
neutral  countries,  and  even  in  enemy  countries,  who 
have  a  respect  for  human  dignity.  May  Divine  Provi- 
dence deign  to  inspire  all  who  have  any  authority,  all  who 
are  masters  of  speech  or  pen,  to  rally  round  our  hum- 
ble Belgian  flag  for  the  abolition  of  European  slavery. 


VI.  The  Spoliation  of  Poland 

The  spoliation  of  Poland  followed  similar  lines  to  the 
spoliation  of  the  territory  in  France  occupied  by  the 
German  armies,  and  the  system  of  requisitions  in 
Belgium.  The  coal-mines  of  Dombrova  were  shut 
down,  the  machines  and  shafts  destroyed,  to  favor  the 
Silesian  coal-fields  across  the  Prussian  frontier.  Manu- 
facturing towns  like  Dombrova,  Lodz,  and  Sosnovitse, 
that  competed  with  German  industry,  were  stripped. 

A  million  people  were  idle  and  on  the  verge  of  star- 
vation. The  Germans  harvested  the  crops,  invading 
Poland  with  all  kinds  of  German  machines,  motor- 
lorries,  and  machines  for  digging  up  potatoes,  and  they 
dug  and  threshed  and  transported  through  the  au- 
tumn of  1914.  The  foodstuffs  around  Lodz  were  mobil- 
ized most  effectively  by  this  German  organization. 
Only,  when  they  were  collected,  the  Imperial  German 
Government  commandeered  all.  The  motor-lorries 
spirited  them  away  into  Germany,  while  Lodz  and 
Dombrova  continued  to  starve. 

A  German  company  was  formed  and  given  an  abso- 
lute  monopoly  in   trading   in  foodstuffs   in  Poland 

325 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

generally.  Farm  produce  was  purchased,  when  not 
commandeered  at  a  low  rate,  and  sold  at  a  high  rate, 
and  the  company  was  able  to  declare  a  profit  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  per  cent.  An  embargo  was  put  on 
all  stores  of  grain  and  potatoes,  ordering  that  after 
fifty-four  pounds  had  been  left  to  each  inhabitant  the 
remainder  must  be  handed  over  to  the  German  com- 
pany. So  profitable  was  this  food  monopoly  that  other 
articles  were  brought  under  the  same  regime.  A  War- 
Potato  Company  was  formed  in  Berlin  to  requisition 
the  potatoes  in  Poland  for  the  alcohol  refineries  in 
Germany.  This  alcohol  was  reimported  into  Poland, 
while  the  Polish  refineries  were  kept  idle.  A  coal 
monopoly  was  also  established,  and  the  price  of  coal 
doubled. 

Just  as  in  Belgium,  all  kinds  of  important  ma- 
chinery were  taken,  including  parts  that  are  very 
difficult  to  replace.  Then  raw  materials,  oil,  leather, 
sulphur,  iron,  wool,  cotton.  These  stores  were  sold  to 
German  manufacturers  at  low  prices.  If  the  German 
authorities  were  trying  to  destroy  Polish  industry, 
they  used  the  right  methods. 

Here  is  a  quotation  from  the  "Nowa  Reforma"  of 
November  20,  1914,  which  explains  the  operations  of 
the  Posen  "Import  Company  Ltd."  :  — 

A  communication  from  Lodz,  dated  November  18,  de- 
scribes the  unfathomable  distress  of  the  city.  Prices  are 
higher  than  the  highest  known  anywhere  else.  According  to 
the  "Nowy  Kuryer  Lodzki":  — 

At  a  sitting  of  the  Town  Council  of  Lodz  Mr.  Win- 
nicki,  a  town  councillor  of  Polish  nationality,  raised  the 
question  why  the  German  "  Import  Company,"  which 
has  been  invested  by  the  German  Government  with  the 

326 


GERMAN  THEORIES   AND  PRACTICE 

monopoly  of  buying  grain  for  Russian  Poland,  pays 
seven  and  a  half  roubles  for  one  hundred  weight  of  rye, 
when  it  buys  it  in  the  districts  of  Russian  Poland  under 
German  occupation,  but  charges  at  Lodz  twenty-three 
roubles  for  a  bag  of  war-flour  which  contains  hardly 
forty  per  cent  of  the  one  hundred  weight  of  rye.  In 
answer  to  Mr.  Winnicki's  question  the  senior  burgo- 
master, Herr  Schoppen,  answered  that  an  injustice  is 
certainly  done  to  the  inhabitants  of  Lodz,  but  that  he 
could  do  nothing  to  lower  the  prices,  since  the  prices 
at  which  the  "Import  Company  Ltd."  bought  the 
grain  in  Russian  Poland,  as  well  as  the  prices  it  charged 
for  grain  at  Lodz  and  elsewhere,  had  been  fixed  by 
Field-Marshal  von  Hindenburg,  supreme  commander 
in  the  East,  and  could  not,  therefore,  be  modified  by 
the  town  administration. 

The  scarcity  of  fuel  in  Lodz  is  equally  the  fault  of 
the  "  Import  Company  Ltd."  The  town  requires  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  railway  trucks  of  coal  a  day,  and 
has  to  import  it  by  way  of  Germany  instead  of  getting 
it  straight  from  the  Polish  coal-fields.  This  city  of  half 
a  million  inhabitants  has  no  stores  of  fuel,  and  if  the 
railway  communication  is  interrupted  it  may  be  left 
destitute  of  fuel  altogether,  especially  as  the  forests 
round  Lodz  have  been  cut  down  during  the  war. 

On  July  1,  1915,  a  final  order  was  published  "for 
securing  the  grain  in  the  districts  of  Poland  situated  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Vistula  and  remaining  under  Ger- 
man administration,  for  the  needs  of  the  German 
Army,  the  German  market,  and  of  the  population 
inhabiting  the  occupied  territory." 

The  "Nowa  Reforma"  of  October  7,  1915,  is  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  the  Central  Committee  of 
Warsaw  was  suddenly  dissolved;  upon  this  Committee 
depended  all  the  Citizens'  Relief  Committees  which  at 
that  time  were  achieving  notable  results :  — 

327 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

It  was  a  center  to  220  Provincial  Committees.  It  had 
under  its  care  17  hospitals,  more  than  200  tea-houses,  300 
to  400  schools  and  homes  for  children,  and  some  40  or  50 
cheap  restaurants.  It  also  had  at  its  disposal  17  wholesale 
stores  with  a  working  capital  amounting  to  about  £400,000. 
It  took  special  care  of  hygiene  and  poor  relief. 

Amid  the  disorganization  caused  by  the  war,  the  Com- 
mittee at  Warsaw  was  the  one  institution  which  successfully 
organized  relief  for  the  population  and  to  a  large  extent  alle- 
viated the  condition  of  the  poor.  Moreover,  the  dissolution 
of  the  Central  Committee  at  Warsaw  involved  a  simultane- 
ous dissolution  of  the  Provincial  Committees,  and  that  in 
turn  caused  the  suspension  of  the  district  committees  and  of 
all  cooperative  institutions  which  remained  under  their 
direction.   All  relief  action  came  to  a  stop. 

Here  is  an  exact  estimate  of  the  havoc  wrought  by  this 
master-stroke  of  German  organization  in  Poland  (furnished 
in  a  statement  compiled,  in  authoritative  Polish  quarters, 
during  December,  1915) :  — 

The  closing  of  the  Committee  resulted  in  the  closing 
of  the  following  institutions :  — 

1.  About  two  hundred  Citizens'  Committees  in  the 
Government  of  Warsaw. 

2.  About  two  hundred  wholesale  provision  shops  of 
the  Committee.  The  turn-over  of  the  wholesale  estab- 
lishment of  the  Committee,  from  December  to  June, 
was  1,500,000  roubles. 

3.  Three  hundred  schools  for  small  children. 

4.  All  public  educational  institutions  (libraries,  peo- 
ple's halls,  etc.)  and  the  civic  guard  (special  constables). 
Eleven  inspectorates  of  this  guard  were  dissolved, 
whereby  about  6000  special  constables  were  prevented 
from  doing  their  duty  and  the  Government  of  Warsaw 
left  without  any  police  protection. 

5.  100  centers  of  food-distribution. 

6.  A  refugee  bureau  which  helped  about  8000  people. 

7.  The  valuation  of  losses  caused  by  the  destruction 
of  estates  and  villages  was  also  stopped.    This  step  is 

328 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

favorable  to  the  Russian  Government,  which,  on  the 
basis  of  the  valuations  of  the  Central  Citizens'  Com- 
mittee, has  already  paid  7,000,000  roubles  compensation. 

8.  The  sanitary  activity  was  stopped.  About  20 
hospitals  and  30  dispensaries  had  to  close  their  doors. 
Vaccination  of  the  inhabitants  had  to  be  stopped,  also 
the  sanitary  inspection  of  shops  and  goods,  hospital 
buildings,  baths  and  wells. 

9.  About  150  tea-houses  and  places  for  distributing 
hot  water  had  to  close. 

10.  All  the  district  councils  in  the  whole  Government 
were  closed. 

11.  The  rebuilding  of  the  destroyed  villages  and 
towns,  on  which  the  Central  Citizens'  Committee  had 
spent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  roubles,  was  stopped. 

12.  Every  district  council  had  a  cooperative  shop, 
which  had  to  be  closed  after  the  dissolution  of  these 
councils. 

In  consequence  of  this  action  of  the  German  Government 
a  total  disorganization  resulted,  and  the  German  authorities 
were  absolutely  unable  to  cope  with  the  situation. 

The  German  authorities  [writes  a  Polish  correspondent] 
are  doing  everything  in  their  power  to  induce  workmen  to 
leave  for  Germany.  They  almost  force  them  to  go.  The 
workmen,  however,  are  not  willing  to  leave  the  country,  and 
the  majority  of  them  go  to  work  on  the  land. 

The  reasons  for  this  policy  of  spoliation  were  first  to 
add  to  the  resources  of  Germany,  and  then,  as  a  result 
of  the  distress,  to  induce  workmen  to  go  to  Germany. 

Here  is  a  description  of  conditions  at  Lodz,  pub- 
lished by  the  "Journal  de  Geneve"  on  December  1, 
1915:  — 

According  to  the  special  correspondent  of  the  "  Journal  de 
Geneve,"  the  condition  of  Lodz  goes  from  bad  to  worse. 
The  two  chief  evils,  as  was  to  be  expected,  are  lack  of  em- 

329 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

ployment  and  exorbitantly  high  prices.  As  for  the  former, 
the  factories  are  now  working  only  three  days  in  the  week, 
the  raw  material  having  been  mostly  requisitioned  by  Ger- 
many. At  first  the  invaders  did  everything  they  could  to 
persuade  the  artisans  to  emigrate  to  Germany,  which  is  at 
present  short  of  labor.  But,  when  it  was  found  that  only  a 
few  thousand  yielded  to  persuasion,  the  President  of  Police 
issued  a  proclamation  (end  of  September)  in  which,  after 
announcing  that  the  factories  would  soon  be  altogether 
closed  and  that  no  relief  would  be  distributed  during  the 
winter  from  any  source,  he  offered  navvy  work  on  the  repair 
of  the  roads  and  bridges,  work  which  it  was  known  would 
employ  only  a  limited  number,  and  that  only  for  a  short 
time,  as  the  sole  alternative  to  emigration.  That  is  the 
dilemma  which  the  artisans  now  have  to  face. 

This  leads  to  the  question  of  prices. 

The  German  authorities  have  commandeered  all  provi- 
sions. Wheat  may  now  be  sold  only  by  the  Goods  Importa- 
tion Company,  which  buys  it  up  cheap  from  the  peasants  and 
sells  the  resultant  flour  (war-flour)  at  exorbitant  prices  to 
the  townspeople,  who  find  their  bread  "  simply  uneatable," 
as  well  as  ten  per  cent  above  the  price  to  which  they  were 
accustomed.  The  same  company  has  the  monopoly  of  sugar 
and  alcohol.  "  Huge  quantities"  of  pulse  and  oatmeal  have 
been  exported  to  Germany,  and  their  price  at  Lodz  has  gone 
up  fourfold.  The  present  scheme  for  exporting  to  Germany 
twelve  to  fifteen  million  quintals  of  potatoes  will  cause  a 
similar  rise  in  what  is  now  "  almost  the  only  resource  left  to 
the  poor."  Almost  all  the  cattle  have  already  been  exported, 
and  the  price  of  meat,  which  for  some  months  has  been  quite 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  artisans,  has  gone  up  400  to  500  per 
cent.  Even  the  handfuls  of  bread,  meat,  and  flour,  which 
the  artisans  who  have  taken  work  in  the  fields  bring  back 
with  them,  are  confiscated  at  the  city  gates,  on  the  plea  of 
contraband. 

The  following  account  gives  further  information  as 
to  the  situation  in  Lodz.  The  "Lodzianin,"  the  Social- 
Democratic  newspaper  in  the  town,  says :  — 

330 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND   PRACTICE 

There  are  about  60,000  householders  in  Lodz.  Every  one 
of  them  is  entitled  to  a  coal-card,  and  as  only  150  of  these  are 
issued  a  day  (which  makes  4500  a  month),  the  rest  are  likely 
to  remain  without  fuel  for  the  winter.  The  cold  favors  the 
development  of  tuberculosis.  Last  year  we  had  forty  per 
cent  mortality  from  tuberculosis,  although  conditions  then 
were  much  better  than  can  be  hoped  for  this  winter.  The 
manufacturers  have  been  told  to  give  support  only  to  those 
workmen  who  have  been  employed  by  them  for  no  less  than 
fifteen  years;  that  practically  means  the  old  people  who  are 
not  fit  to  go  to  work  in  Prussia.  The  German  administra- 
tion is  assisted  in  promoting  emigration  by  the  municipal 
authorities,  though  it  is  said  that  there  are  Poles,  too,  on 
the  Town  Council.  The  Town  Committee  for  the  poor  relief 
helps  only  those  who  bring  certificates  from  the  German  La- 
bor Exchange  to  the  effect  that  they  are  not  fit  to  work 
in  Germany. 

We  raise  a  solemn  protest,  in  the  name  of  the  Polish  labor- 
ing classes,  to  all  the  more  enlightened  elements  of  the  Ger- 
man nation,  and  to  German  Socialists  in  particular.  The 
present  condition  of  things  is  reducing  the  Polish  proletariat 
to  mental  and  physical  exhaustion. 

That  was  the  last  cry  of  despair  before  the  winter 
descended  upon  Lodz  like  a  shroud. 

Here  are  a  few  sentences  from  a  statement  drawn  up, 
in  authoritative  Polish  quarters,  as  recently  as  Janu- 
ary, 1916: — 

On  May  22,  1915,  all  textile  mills  in  Lodz  were  shut  and 
all  stock  of  raw  materials,  as  well  as  part  of  the  machinery, 
were  confiscated.  The  same  thing  happened  a  little  later  in 
Warsaw  and  Sosnovitse.  .  .  . 

The  working-people  are  starving.  Hundreds  of  people  are 
dying  from  a  new  illness  caused  by  the  lack  of  food.  .  .  . 
The  majority  of  infants  have  died,  and  the  death-rate  is  now 
much  higher  than  the  birth-rate. 


331 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

That  is  a  bare  summary  of  what  has  occurred;  but 
the  agony  of  Lodz  is  revealed  in  detail  in  the  narrative 
of  a  visitor  to  the  city,  which  was  published  in  the 
"Nowa  Reforma,"  not  long  ago:  — 

Wishing  to  acquaint  myself  with  the  misery  in  the  factory 
towns  and  to  consider  means  of  relief,  I  went  to  Lodz.  What 
I  found  surpassed  my  most  awful  fears.  The  population  is 
slowly  dying,  after  exhausting  its  forces  in  a  hopeless  strug- 
gle. 

All  the  factories  at  Lodz  are  closed,  but  some  of  the  rich 
manufacturers  are  nobly  supporting  their  employees.  They 
give  them  a  rouble  (2s.)  a  week.  The  poor  creatures,  who 
have  been  subsisting  many  months  now  on  that  pittance 
alone,  are  growing  anaemic  and  consumptive;  but  they  are 
rich  in  comparison  with  the  families  to  which  the  Town 
Committee  allows  40  kopecks  (lOd.)  for  each  adult  and  6d. 
for  every  child. 

We  see  here  the  German  theories  of  requisition  ex- 
emplified as  explained  by  Von  Hartmann  who  says:  — 

The  system  of  requisitions  goes  indefinitely  beyond  the 
simple  right  to  collect  provisions  in  the  country  where  war  is 
carried  on.  It  implies  the  full  exploitation  of  that  country 
in  all  respects,  and  whatever  the  assistance  which  one  is  able 
to  promise  one's  self  from  it  for  the  army  operating  there, 
whether  to  facilitate  and  advance  its  actions,  or  whether  to 
promote  its  endurance  and  insure  its  safety. 

This  implies,  be  it  noted,  that  military  necessities  must  not 
establish  any  distinction  between  public  and  private  property 
and  that  the  army  claims  the  right  to  take  what  it  requires 
everywhere  and  in  such  a  manner  as  it  can  appropriate  it. 

And  to  this  statement  Field  Marshal  von  Hinden- 
burg  subscribes  in  a  recent  interview :  — 

The  country  is  suffering.  Lodz  is  stricken  with  famine. 
That  is  deplorable,  but  it  is  good.   One  does  not  carry  on  a 

332 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

war  upon  sentimental  principles.  The  more  pitilessly  war 
is  carried  on,  the  more  humane  it  is  at  bottom;  for  so  much 
the  sooner  will  it  be  finished.  The  methods  of  war,  which 
bring  about  peace  with  the  greatest  speed,  are  and  remain 
the  most  humane  methods. 

From  the  "Dziennik  Poznanski"  (a  Polish  paper 
published  at  Posen) :  — 

The  petition  of  the  Warsaw  industrialists  for  setting  the 
factories  at  work  again  was  met  by  a  categorical  refusal  on 
the  part  of  Besseler  [the  German  Governor],  who  declared 
that  anybody  could  find  employment  in  Germany,  whence 
Polish  working-men  had  already  sent  to  Lodz  savings  to  the 
amount  of  40,000  marks ! ! ! 

VII.  The  Deportations  from  Lille 

I  first  heard  of  the  deportations  from  Lille  from  a 
gentleman  from  Luxemburg  who  came  to  London  to 
see  what  could  be  done  in  regard  to  the  five  daughters, 
from  fourteen  to  twenty -two  years  of  age,  of  a  profes- 
sor at  Lille.  These  girls  had  been  taken  from  home  and 
at  the  end  of  a  month  nothing  had  been  heard  from 
them. 

Afterwards  the  French  Government  published  a  re- 
port of  these  events  from  which  I  make  extracts :  — 

Note  of  the  Government  of  the  French  Republic  on  the  conduct 
of  the  German  authorities  toward  the  population  of  the 
French  Departments  occupied  by  the  enemy. 

On  several  occasions  the  Government  of  the  Republic  has 
had  occasion  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  neutral  powers  the 
action  of  the  German  military  authorites  toward  the  popu- 
lation of  the  French  territory  temporarily  occupied  by  them, 
as  being  in  conflict  with  treaty  rights. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  finds  itself  to-day  obliged 
to  lay  before  foreign  Governments  documents  which  will 

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OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

establish  that  our  enemies  have  put  in  force  measures  still 
more  inconsistent  with  humanity. 

By  order  of  General  von  Graevenitz,  and  with  the  support 
of  Infantry  Regiment  No.  64,  detailed  for  the  purpose  by  the 
German  General  Headquarters,  about  25,000  French  —  con- 
sisting of  girls  between  sixteen  and  twenty  years  of  age, 
young  women,  and  men  up  to  the  age  of  fifty-five,  without 
regard  to  social  position  —  were  torn  from  their  homes  at 
Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  and  Lille,  separated  ruthlessly  from 
their  families,  and  compelled  to  do  agricultural  work  in  the 
Departments  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Ardennes. 

Proclamation  by  the  German  authorities 

All  the  inhabitants  of  the  house,  with  the  exception  of 
children  under  fourteen  and  their  mothers,  and  of  the 
aged,  must  prepare  themselves  to  be  transported  within 
an  hour  and  a  half. 

An  officer  will  decide  definitely  what  persons  are  to  be 
taken  to  the  concentration  camps.  For  this  purpose, 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  house  must  assemble  in  front 
of  the  house;  in  case  of  bad  weather  they  are  to  remain 
in  the  passage.  The  door  of  the  house  must  remain 
open.  No  protest  will  be  listened  to.  No  inhabitant 
of  the  house  (even  including  those  who  are  not  to  be 
transported)  may  leave  it  before  8  a.m.  (German  time). 
Any  person  endeavoring  to  avoid  transportation  will 
be  punished  without  mercy. 

The  Commandant. 

Protest  of  the  Mayor  of  Lille 

This  document,  as  also  the  one  which  follows,  has  been 
communicated  to  the  French  Government,  which  is  in  pos- 
session of  confirmatory  evidence  in  regard  to  it  from  sev- 
eral different  sources. 

Monsieur  le  Gouverneur,  — ■ 

Being  still  convalescent  from  illness  and  confined  to 
the  house,  I  hear,  with  inexpressible  emotion,  intelli- 

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GERMAN  THEORIES   AND  PRACTICE 

gence  which  I  still  wish  to  be  able  to  discredit.  I  am 
informed  that  the  German  authority  entertains  the 
intention  of  deporting  a  considerable  portion  of  our 
population,  and  of  removing  them  to  other  parts  of  the 
occupied  territory.  .  .  . 

To  destroy  and  break  up  families,  to  tear  peaceable 
citizens  by  thousands  from  their  homes,  to  force  them 
to  leave  their  property  without  protection,  constitutes 
an  act  of  a  nature  to  arouse  general  indignation. 

Protest  of  Monseigneur  Charost,  Bishop  of  Lille 

Monsieur  le  General,  — 

Numerous  removals  of  women  and  girls,  certain  trans- 
fers of  men  and  youths,  and  even  of  children,  have  been 
carried  out  in  the  districts  of  Tourcoing  and  Roubaix 
without  judicial  procedure  or  trial. 

The  unfortunate  people  have  been  sent  to  unknown 
places.  Measures  equally  extreme  and  on  a  larger  scale 
are  contemplated  at  Lille.  .  .  .  That  mission  lays  on  me 
the  burden  of  defending,  with  respect  but  with  courage, 
the  Law  of  Nations,  which  the  law  of  war  must  never 
infringe,  and  that  eternal  morality,  whose  rules  nothing 
can  suspend.  It  makes  it  my  duty  to  protect  the  feeble 
and  unarmed,  who  are  as  my  family  to  me  and  whose 
burdens  and  sorrows  are  mine. 

Thus  to  dismember  the  family,  by  tearing  youths  and 
girls  from  their  homes,  is  not  war;  it  is  for  us  torture  and 
the  worst  of  tortures  —  unlimited  moral  torture.  .  .  . 
Morality  is  exposed  to  perils,  the  mere  idea  of  which 
revolts  every  honest  man,  from  the  promiscuity  which 
inevitably  accompanies  removals  en  masse,  involving 
mixture  of  the  sexes,  or,  at  all  events,  of  persons  of  very 
unequal  moral  standing.  Young  girls  of  irreproachable 
life,  who  have  never  committed  any  worse  offense  than 
that  of  trying  to  pick  up  some  bread  or  a  few  potatoes 
to  feed  a  numerous  family,  and  who  have,  besides,  paid 
the  light  penalty  for  such  trespass,  have  been  carried 
off.  .  .  .  Their  mothers  are  now  alone.    They  bring  to 

335 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

me  their  despair  and  their  anguish.  I  am  speaking  of 
what  I  have  seen  and  heard.  .  .  .  We  have  suffered 
much  for  the  last  twenty  months,  but  no  stroke  of  for- 
tune could  be  comparable  to  this;  it  would  be  as  unde- 
served as  it  is  cruel  and  would  produce  in  all  France 
an  indelible  impression. 

Lille,  April  30,  1916. 

My  dear  E , 

What  I  have  to  tell  you  is  so  sad  and  so  long  that  I  have 
not  the  heart  to  write  it  twice.  Will  you  read  this  letter  and 
then  pass  it  on  to  M — — ,  for  her  to  send  round  and  finally 
keep  in  her  own  hands. 

My  dear  M , 

The  last  three  weeks,  and  especially  the  last  week,  we 
have  spent  in  the  most  terrible  anguish  and  moral  torture 
possible  for  a  mother's  heart.  On  the  pretext  of  difficulties 
caused  by  England  in  the  matter  of  provisions  and  of  the 
refusal  of  the  men  out  of  work  to  volunteer  for  work  in  the 
fields,  the  Germans  have  embarked  on  a  forcible  evacuation 
of  the  population,  with  an  inconceivable  refinement  of  cru- 
elty. They  did  not  proceed  as  on  the  first  occasion  by  whole 
families;  no,  community  of  suffering  they  thought  would  be 
too  easy  for  us,  and  so  they  took  one,  two,  three,  four,  or 
five  members  from  each  family  —  men,  women,  youths, 
children  of  fifteen,  girls,  any  one  —  whoever  was  chosen, 
quite  arbitrarily,  by  an  officer.  And  to  prolong  the  agony 
for  us  all,  they  operated  by  districts,  without  even  giving 
notice  in  which  district  they  would  operate  each  night;  for 
it  was  at  dawn,  at  three  in  the  morning,  that  these  heroes, 
with  a  band,  and  machine  guns  and  fixed  bayonets,  would  go 
and  hunt  out  women  and  children  and  take  them  away. . .  . 

This  is  the  end  of  this  long  and  miserable  story,  but  I 
have  not  been  able  to  depict  the  terrible  suffering  of  those 
whose  homes  have  thus  been  decimated.  Many  will  die  of 
it.  As  Monseigneur  said,  it  is  the  passion  of  our  families 
added  to  the  passion  of  Christ.  One  woman  sweated  blood 
on  seeing  her  young  son  taken;  he  was  brought  back  to  her, 

336 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

but  she  did  not  recognize  him.  It  is  terrible  and  our  position 
seems  to  be  very  critical. 

Letter  from  M.  X.  at  Lille,  to  M.  V.,  at  Paris 

We  have  seen  our  streets  invaded  in  the  middle  of  the 
night  by  hordes  of  soldiers,  with  fixed  bayonets  and  machine 
guns  (how  shameful!),  tearing  young  girls  of  all  ages  and 
lads  of  fourteen  from  their  mothers'  arms,  without  pity  for 
these  mothers,  who,  on  their  knees,  implored  their  conquer- 
ors for  mercy;  and  all  these  unfortunate  creatures,  massed 
indiscriminately  with  the  dregs  of  the  population,  packed 
into  commandeered  trams,  were  sent  off  like  troops  of  slaves 
to  an  unknown  destination.  What  impotent  hatred  is  bred 
in  our  hearts  for  the  moment,  but  later  what  responsibility 
must  be  borne  by  the  higher  German  authorities,  from  the 
private  to  the  general !  Tell  all  this  to  our  son. 

Letter  from  X.  at  Lille,  dated  May  7,  1916,  and  addressed  to 
Madame  B at  Paris 

Horrible  affair  at  Lille,  tell  it  everywhere;  the  deportation 
of  6000  women  and  6000  men;  for  eight  nights,  at  two  in  the 
morning,  districts  invested  by  the  64  th  Regiment  (spread  it 
in  France  that  it  comes  from  Verdun),  forcibly  dragged  off 
girls  of  eighteen  and  women  up  to  forty -two;  2000  a  night. 
Herded  in  a  factory;  sorted  out  during  the  day  and  carried 
off  in  the  evening;  scattered  from  Seclin  to  Sedan  in  aban- 
doned villages,  farms,  etc.;  to  cook  and  wash  for  soldiers, 
replacing  orderlies  sent  to  the  front;  working  on  the  land, 
especially  servants  and  working-girls,  few  girls  of  good 
family. 

Letter  to  M.  Poincari 

These  girls  and  lads  were  taken  in  trams  to  factories, 
where  they  were  numbered  and  labeled  like  cattle  and 
grouped  to  form  convoys.  In  these  factories  they  remained 
twelve,  twenty-four,  or  thirty-six  hours  until  a  train  was 
ready  to  remove  them.  .  .  . 

The  families  so  scattered  are  in  despair  and  the  morale  of 

337 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  whole  population  is  gravely  affected.  Boys  of  fourteen, 
schoolboys  in  knickerbockers,  young  girls  of  fifteen  and  six- 
teen have  been  carried  off,  and  the  despairing  protests  of 
their  parents  failed  to  touch  the  hearts  of  the  German 
officers,  or  rather,  executioners.  .  .  . 

Sufferings  in  Northern  France 

Mile.  L ,  aged  twenty-six,  brickmaker,  deported  from 

S (Aisne) :  — 

About  300  of  us  were  shut  up  in  a  school  in  the  town; 
we  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  building.  Reveille  was 
sounded  at  five  a.m.,  and  we  worked  till  seven  p.m.  The 
work  was  done  in  gangs. 

The  women  who  refused  to  work  or  who  declared  they 
could  work  only  after  having  enough  to  eat  (the  food 
was  very  bad  and  very  scanty)  were  beaten  either  with 
great  cat-o'-nine-tails  or  kicked,  or  a  large  jug  of  water 
was  thrown  over  them  and  they  were  beaten  after- 
wards. 

VIII.   The  German  State  of  Mend 

Many  forces,  ideas,  and  circumstances  must  be 
taken  into  account  in  order  to  understand  the  facts 
which  have  just  been  set  forth. 

First,  there  is  the  feeling  of  superiority  on  the  part 
of  the  Germans;  secondly,  the  belief  that  Germany  has 
a  divine  mission  to  uplift  civilization;  thirdly,  the 
conviction  that  the  Germans  are  unfairly  shut  out 
from  sufficient  territory  in  which  to  grow  and  prosper; 
fourthly,  that  this  war  was  maliciously  plotted  by  her 
enemies,  of  whom  England  was  the  chief  conspirator 
and  criminal;  fifthly,  that  the  more  terribly  wTar  is 
waged,  the  shorter  it  will  be,  hence  resulting,  on  the 
whole,  in  less  loss  of  life  and  less  suffering. 

Further,    the    German    people   believe   that   their 

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GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

government  and  army  in  no  way  offend  against  the 
laws  of  humanity  or  international  law. 

Nevertheless,  no  single  fact  connected  with  this  war 
stands  out  more  clearly  than  that  Germany  has  many 
times  outraged  the  public  opinion  of  the  world,  and 
has  done  things  which  have  been  not  only  of  almost 
no  value  to  herself,  but  have  undoubtedly  caused  her 
enormous  disadvantages. 

The  introduction  of  poisonous  gases  greatly  in- 
creased the  resolution  against  her  of  her  enemies,  espe- 
cially the  Canadians. 

Then  again,  how  could  any  people,  long  before  war, 
devise  apparatus  to  throw  burning  liquids  on  their 
enemies?  When  one  faces  this  method  of  warfare  it 
seems  equivalent  to  inflicting  capital  punishment  by 
burning  the  prisoner  at  the  stake  rather  than  by  using 
the  electric  chair. 

Here  is  a  copy  of  an  order  concerning  the  use  of 
flame  projectors  and  burning  liquids :  — 

Headquarters 
Sainl-Quentin,  October  16,  1914. 

Second  Army,  Note  32. 

Engineers :  —  General  Notice 

Attack  on  fortified  positions. 

Means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Engineers  for  fighting  at  close 
quarters. 

Flame  projectors  and  burning  liquids. 

These  will  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Army  Corps 
according  to  their  requirements  by  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.  The  Corps  will  at  the  same  time  receive  the  skilled 
operators  indispensable  for  working  these  engines,  who  will 
be  reinforced,  after  giving  the  necessary  instruction,  by  en- 
gineers of  the  companies  chosen  for  this  service. 

339 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Flame  projectors  are  to  be  used  by  engineers  specially 
trained  to  handle  them ;  they  are  objects  resembling  a  port- 
able fire  extinguisher  and  eject  a  liquid  which  at  once  ignites 
spontaneously.  The  waves  of  flame  have  an  effective  range 
of  twenty  square  metres.  Their  deadly  effect  is  instantane- 
ous, and  they  throw  back  the  enemy  to  a  considerable  dis- 
tance by  means  of  the  great  heat  they  generate.  As  they 
burn  for  a  period  of  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  minutes,  and 
may  be  arrested  at  will,  operators  are  advised  to  produce 
short  isolated  flames,  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  attack  at 
several  points  with  a  single  supply  of  the  liquid.  Flame  pro- 
jectors are  to  be  used  chiefly  in  street-fighting,  and  are  to  be 
kept  in  readiness  at  the  point  whence  an  attack  by  storming 
starts. 

The  use  of  burning  liquids  greatly  embittered  the 
soldiers  of  the  Allies,  and  increased  their  determina- 
tion to  go  to  ultimate  victory. 

I  always  heard  the  Turkish  soldiers  well  spoken 
of  in  England.  General  Ian  Hamilton,  the  English 
Commander-in-Chief  at  Gallipoli,  told  me  that  al- 
though the  Turks  had  the  liquid  fire  apparatus,  they 
did  not  use  it. 

Again,  the  needless  destruction  of  great  works  of 
architecture,  —  as  for  example,  the  Cathedral  at 
Rheims,  which  had  stood,  untouched,  through  all  the 
wars  of  seven  hundred  years,  —  and  the  destruction 
of  priceless  creations  of  art  and  architecture  in  all  the 
occupied  territory,  have  served  no  helpful  purpose  for 
Germany,  and  have  added  to  the  mass  of  hatred  and 
contempt  against  her. 

Major-General  von  Disfurth  (retired),  in  an  article 
contributed  to  the  Hamburg  "Nachrichten,"  writes  as 
follows :  — 

Germany  stands  the  supreme  arbiter  of  her  own  methods. 
It  is  of  no  consequence  whatever  if  all  the  monuments  ever 

340 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND   PRACTICE 

created,  all  the  pictures  ever  painted,  all  the  buildings  ever 
erected  by  the  great  architects  of  the  world  be  destroyed, 
if  by  their  destruction  we  promoted  Germany's  victory. 
War  is  war.  The  ugliest  stone  placed  to  mark  the  burial 
of  a  German  grenadier  is  a  more  glorious  monument  than 
all  the  cathedrals  of  Europe  put  together.  They  call  us 
"barbarians."  What  of  it?  We  scorn  them  and  their 
abuse. 

For  my  part,  I  hope  that  in  this  war  we  have  merited  the 
title,  "barbarians."  Let  neutral  peoples  and  our  enemies 
cease  their  empty  chatter,  which  may  well  be  compared  to 
the  twitter  of  birds.  Let  them  cease  to  talk  of  the  Cathedral 
of  Rheims,  and  of  all  the  churches  and  all  the  castles  in 
France  which  have  shared  its  fate.  Our  troops  must  achieve 
victory.   What  else  matters? 

The  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  is  another  illus- 
tration of  the  mistaken  methods  of  Germany.  The 
English  people  are  slow.  No  ordinary  world-issues 
would  have  so  unified  the  English  nation  and  aroused 
her  working-men  to  a  resolution  to  fight  as  did  this 
single  act.  War  to-day  can  be  waged  only  by  a  highly 
organized  industrial  nation,  and  with  the  support  of 
the  whole  body  of  workmen  in  industry.  At  almost  no 
cost  to  England,  Germany  performed  the  miracle  of 
arousing  the  English  working-men,  by  such  deeds  as 
the  bombardment  of  Scarborough,  the  Zeppelin  raids, 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  the  execution  of  Edith 
Cavell. 

It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  any  of  these  things  so 
hardened  English  determination  as  the  execution  of 
Captain  Fryatt.  I  was  often  told,  in  Germany,  of 
Captain  Fryatt's  crime,  always  with  great  indignation. 
The  submarine  captain  who  sunk  the  Lusitania  was 
a  hero,  Captain  Fryatt  was  a  criminal.  If  Captain 
Turner  of  the  Lusitania  had  been  able  to  save  his  ship 

341 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

by  ramming  the  submarine,  he  would  have  been  exe- 
cuted by  the  Germans  if  he  had  afterwards  been  cap- 
tured. His  execution  would  have  been  legal  —  in 
accordance  with  laws  made  in  Germany,  but  recog- 
nized by  no  other  nation. 

The  deportations  of  the  Belgians,  the  deportations 
of  the  French  from  Lille  and  from  other  places  in 
France,  the  policy  of  terrorism  and  requisition  prac- 
ticed in  France,  Belgium,  and  Poland,  also  the  theories 
and  plans  of  requisition  of  goods  and  territory,  openly 
published  by  influential  Germans  —  all  these  things 
have  tremendously  affected  the  peoples  at  war  against 
Germany. 

I  was  in  France  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the 
reports  describing  the  deportations  from  Lille.  France 
was  filled  with  horror  and  anguish,  and  with  a  deter- 
mination to  go  on  until  the  possibility  of  such  things 
ever  happening  again  would  be  removed  forever. 
France  feels  that  above  all  nations  she  is  sacrificing  life 
and  estate  to  save  civilization  from  being  devoured  by 
a  monster.  Germany  seems  to  France  to  be  a  Frank- 
enstein, with  tremendous  strength,  utterly  unmoral, 
and  at  the  same  time  utterly  wicked. 

The  state  of  mind  produced  in  France  and  England 
by  such  things  as  are  here  adduced  constitutes  one  of 
the  great  obstacles  to  peace. 

War  is  the  great  revealer.  It  strips  men  of  all  unreal- 
ities and  hypocrisies.  We  see  men  naked.  We  are  able 
to  evaluate  social,  industrial,  and  educational  systems. 
The  methods  and  practices  of  Germany  in  conducting 
this  war  must  have  thrown  light  on  her  psychology. 
What,  then,  is  the  dominating  note  in  German  thought 
and  action  as  revealed  by  the  war?  Is  it  not  her  invar- 

342 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

iable  reliance  on  force  and  terrorism  to  accomplish  her 

aims? 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  probable  origin  of 
the  German  idea  in  regard  to  the  efficacy  of  force  and 
repressive  measures.  The  bottom  fact  in  the  national 
structure  of  Germany  is  military  discipline.  Now, 
military  discipline  is  largely  discipline  from  the  out- 
side. It  is  imposed  discipline,  often  imposed  by  force. 
This  idea  of  making  people  efficient  by  force  colors  all 
their  theories  of  industry,  social  organization,  govern- 
ment, war,  rule  over  other  peoples,  methods  of  diplo- 
macy with  other  nations.  Even  in  the  social  and  in- 
dustrial structure  of  Germany  there  is  a  tremendous 
tendency  toward  the  infiltration  of  the  military  prin- 
ciples of  discipline.  This  tendency  is  inevitable.  Under 
this  system  the  individual  is  restrained  by  external 
forces. 

Real  discipline,  on  the  other  hand,  must  come  from 
within.  Liberty  is  the  first  condition  of  real  discipline 
—  the  liberty  of  the  individual  up" to  the  limits  where 
his  liberty  interferes  with  the  liberty  of  others. 

Long  before  this  war  Mr.  Root  said  to  me  once: 
"The  great  problem  in  government  is  to  get  efficiency 
without  sacrificing  democracy." 

When  the  ordinary  restraints  of  civilization  were 
removed  from  the  military  forces  of  Germany  in  Bel- 
gium, their  inner  powers  of  inhibition  were  too  feeble 
to  put  a  limit  to  the  orders,  plans,  and  policies  of  the 
German  officials. 

The  revelations  of  this  war  make  us  question  the 
superiority  claimed  for  the  German  theories  of  social, 
industrial,  and  military  organization. 

The  democratic  movement  of  the  age  was  hindered 

343 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

in  Prussia  by  the  very  critical  situation  of  the  nation, 
surrounded  by  strong  enemies.  War,  sometimes  defen- 
sive, sometimes  aggressive,  was  the  most  important 
influence  in  moulding  the  principles  and  institutions 
of  the  German  people.  The  present  forms  and  prin- 
ciples of  organization  in  Germany  are  the  inevitable 
products  of  the  conditions  under  which  the  German 
Empire  was  formed. 

This  war  is  to  determine  whether  the  principles  of 
individual  liberty  or  mass  organization  are  to  dom- 
inate the  world.  It  is  to  determine  whether  the  indi- 
vidual is  made  for  the  State,  or  the  State  for  the  in- 
dividual. 

IX.  Mass  Psychology 

The  new  danger  to  civilization 

We  are  accustomed  to  exhibitions  of  mob  psychol- 
ogy in  which  the  acts  of  a  few  hundreds  or  of  a  few 
thousands  shock  the  world.  But  in  this  war  we  must 
take  into  account  the  psychology  of  a  mass  which 
contains  all  the  people  of  a  nation,  or  even  of  a  group 
of  nations. 

In  the  world  to-day  the  number  and  variety  of  the 
ideas  and  factors  in  life  require  a  vast  amount  of  co- 
ordinated activity  and  thought.  In  all  countries  there 
are  numerous  organizations,  —  governments,  armies, 
navies,  schools,  trades-unions,  farmers'  unions,  etc. 
There  are  also  industries  that  require  the  coordinated 
knowledge  and  activity  of  many  people  with  varied  and 
various  skill.  The  means  of  travel  and  transportation, 
like  railroads;  the  means  for  the  transmission  of  in- 
telligence, the  telegraph,  the  telephone,  also  unify  a 
people.    But  the  principal  organ  of  unification  is  the 

344 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

printing-press,  with  its  product  of  books,  pamphlets, 
periodicals,  and  newspapers. 

With  all  this  machinery  of  unification,  plus  univer- 
sal military  training,  the  leaders  of  thought  and  action 
in  Germany  have  organized  and  carried  on  a  propa- 
ganda for  more  than  a  generation.  Such  men  as 
Treitschke,  Rohrbach,  Schiemann,  Reventlow,  Tan- 
nenberg,  Naumann,  and  hundreds  of  others,  have 
preached  the  doctrine  of  German  superiority,  expan- 
sion, needs,  and  rights.  I  have  quoted  from  such 
sources.  At  the  same  time,  the  Great  General  Staff 
have  realized  in  preparation  and  in  act  the  ideas  that 
had  already  become  the  thought  of  the  entire  nation. 

The  writings  of  Bernhardi  have  been  belittled  in 
Germany,  but  one  can  only  say  that  his  ideas  have  all 
been  realized. 

Professor  Schiemann  speaks  with  unusual  authority, 
and  he  says  about  Bernhardi,  in  a  pamphlet  in  which 
he  answers  "J'Accuse":  — 

The  brave  books  of  Bernhardi,  with  a  clear  prevision  of 
what  was  in  preparation,  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  grasp- 
ing the  sword  before  the  conspiracy  which  threatened  Ger- 
many should  become  active.  That  was  the  more  his  perfect 
right  since  the  threat  of  war,  particularly  on  the  part  of 
England  and  Russia,  had,  as  we  shall  see,  for  years  never  let 
up.  His  writings  —  in  so  far  as  they  were  not  of  a  purely 
military  character  —  were  inopportune  and  unwelcome  to 
the  Government,  since  it  foresaw  the  misuse  to  which  they 
could  be  put  by  the  evilly  inclined.  To-day  it  is  unlikely 
that  any  one  will  deny  that  Bernhardi  saw  and  judged  the 
situation  correctly. 

Treitschke  was  also  a  true  prophet  of  modern  Ger- 
many. And  to  understand  the  German  mind  of  to-day 
one  must  read  his  books. 

345 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  solidarity  of  German  feeling  is  expressed  in  the 
"Hymn  of  Hate"  in  these  words:  — 

You  we  will  hate  with  a  lasting  hate, 
We  will  never  forego  our  hate, 
Hate  of  seventy  millions  choking  down. 
We  love  as  one,  we  hate  as  one, 
We  have  one  foe  and  one  alone  — 

England  ! 

All  Germany  —  all  the  seventy  millions  —  think  as 
one,  hate  as  one,  love  as  one.  The  "Hymn  of  Hate" 
was  part  of  the  General  Order  issued  to  his  troops  on 
November  11, 1914,  by  the  Bavarian  Crown  Prince. 

Now,  let  us  apply  this  state  of  mind,  this  mass  psy- 
chology, to  a  study  of  the  treatment  of  Belgium.  Every- 
thing habitually  done  by  the  most  cruel  and  insensate 
mob  we  find  repeated  in  Belgium,  even  to  burning 
people  alive.  In  fact,  in  this  war,  the  mass  spirit  illus- 
trates itself  from  the  North  Sea  to  Bagdad  by  the  use  of 
fire  to  destroy  life.  The  liquid-fire  apparatus  invented 
by  the  German  military  authorities  carbonizes  its 
victims  in  a  few  minutes.  The  wholesale  and  con- 
tinued cruelties  inflicted  on  the  Belgian  people  can  be 
paralleled  only  by  instances  in  which  mobs  have  had 
full  sway. 

The  professors  and  publicists  of  Germany  thought 
in  abstractions;  but  the  execution  of  their  theories  in- 
volved men  and  women  and  children,  homes,  farms  and 
food,  life  and  liberty,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  family. 
The  Great  General  Staff  put  into  concrete  form  the 
theories  of  the  professors. 

If  German  inventions  could  enable  her  military 
forces  to  release  a  poison  gas  in  such  quantities  and 
under  such  conditions  as  to  destroy  all  the  armies  op- 

346 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

i 

posed  to  Germany,  all  German  people  would  approve. 
If  a  means  were  devised  by  them  to  destroy  by  fire 
all  the  armies  opposed  to  Germany,  all  the  German 
people  would  approve.  If  Germany's  submarines  sunk 
every  ship  at  sea,  and  drowned  every  sailor  and  every 
passenger,  all  the  German  people  would  approve. 
Neither  the  German  Government  nor  the  German 
people  have  disapproved  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania. 

When  I  spoke  to  my  friend,  Professor  von  Schultze- 
Gavernitz,  in  Constantinople,  about  the  sufferings  of 
the  Armenians,  he  said,  "It  is  thirteenth-century  war." 
Professor  Gavernitz  is  one  of  the  gentlest  and  kindest 
men  I  ever  met,  but  to  him  that  abstract  phrase  simply 
covered  the  whole  Armenian  tragedy,  and  dulled  his 
mind  to  it.  He  did  not  realize  that  his  words  meant  the 
destruction  of  modern  civilization.  It  is  thirteenth- 
century  war  that  is  now  waged  from  the  North  Sea  to 
the  Persian  Gulf.  It  is  thirteenth-century  war  with 
twentieth-century  inventions,  and  in  a  twentieth- 
century  world  that  has  endeavored  by  laws  and  agree- 
ments to  shelter  the  weak  and  defenseless  from  the 
powerful  and  cruel. 

It  was  my  experience,  everywhere  in  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary,  and  Turkey,  in  meeting  all  manner 
of  people,  in  military,  political,  and  social  circles,  to 
find  them  gentle,  considerate,  and  sane,  devoted  to 
their  families  and  exhibiting  noble  sentiments  in  every 
relation  of  life.  The  German  people,  however,  refuse  to 
see  disagreeable  things  naked.  Everything  that  is 
printed  in  Germany  is  in  line  with  their  preconcep- 
tions. They  have  an  absolute  credulity  for  all  that 
their  authorities  tell  them,  and  absolute  incredulity 
for  everything  said  by  the  other  belligerents  or  by 

347 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

neutrals.  It  is  this  state  of  mind  that  is  blind  to  Ar- 
menia, that  approves  of  the  military  acts  in  Belgium, 
that  is  swayed  by  the  military  authorities,  that  is 
called  militarism  in  England  and  in  France. 

The  prevalence  and  validity  of  ideas  of  conquest, 
of  spoliation,  of  deportation  will  be  greatly  strength- 
ened if  Germany  wins  the  war,  or  if  the  war  is  a  stale- 
mate. To  England  and  France  this  is  a  war,  not  only 
for  human  freedom,  but  for  the  mere  right  to  exist. 

The  present  expression  of  mass  psychology  in  war 
brings  another  and  an  appalling  thought,  that  the  very 
machinery  of  modern  civilization  easily  becomes  the 
instrument  for  bringing  about  such  a  condition  of  suf- 
fering and  oppression  as  we  now  see  in  Europe.  The 
inventions  and  discoveries  that  make  modern  civiliza- 
tion, render  possible  the  creation  of  a  state  of  mind  that 
will  cause  a  nation  or  union  of  nations  to  threaten  the 
very  basis  of  human  liberty. 

When  Germany  wickedly  fell  upon  Belgium,  she,  at 
one  blow,  wrecked  the  whole  structure  of  law. 

Elihu  Root,  who  spoke  with  the  authority  of  a  great 
international  lawyer,  and  with  the  reticence  and  sense 
of  responsibility  of  a  former  Secretary  of  State,  in 
his  address  in  Carnegie  Hall,  December,  15,  1916, 
said :  — 

Now,  I  say  this  law  is  our  law;  it  is  our  protection.  The 
rights  of  man,  peace  and  humanity,  cannot  be  preserved 
upon  impulse  alone.  Law  governing  men  in  the  treatment 
of  the  weak  and  defenseless  is  necessary;  and  so  for  years, 
for  centuries,  the  nations  have  been  building  up  a  code  of 
law,  international  law,  and  that  law  is  the  protection  —  the 
enforcement  of  that  law,  respect  for  that  law,  obedience  to 
that  law,  are  the  protection  of  our  peaceable  people,  of  all 

348 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

weak  and  small  nations,  of  all  those  that  do  not  wish  to  be 
armed  to  the  teeth  every  moment  for  their  own  protection. 

That  standard  is  now  beaten  down,  it  is  destroyed,  it  is 
set  at  naught.  And  if  we  remain  silent,  if  the  great  neutral 
peoples  of  the  world  remain  silent,  the  standard  is  gone 
forever. 

And,  mark  this,  the  new  standard,  or  rather,  the  return 
to  the  old  standard,  of  barbarism  will  not  stop  with  the  poor 
people  of  Belgium.  It  will  be  here!  Not  perhaps  for  you 
and  me,  but  for  our  children  it  will  be  here. 

If  the  civilized  world  of  the  twentieth  century  is  willing  to 
stand  silent  and  see  these  things  done,  in  cumulative  pro- 
gression, in  violation  of  the  laws  of  humanity  and  of  nations, 
then  the  civilization  of  the  twentieth  century  is  worse  than 
the  savagery  of  Roman  times. 

I  could  not  remain  silent.  I  should  not  respect  myself  if  I 
remained  silent,  and  I  hope,  I  trust,  I  pray,  that  my  country 
will  not  remain  silent. 

Explain  it  as  you  may,  excuse  it  as  you  may,  disguise  it 
as  you  may,  the  people  of  Belgium  by  the  tens  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  are  being  carried  away  into  slavery  —  a  thing 
that  has  not  been  done  by  any  nation  that  claimed  to  be 
civilized  in  modern  history. 

1  Mr.  Root  does  not  shirk  our  responsibility.  He 
says : — 

America  cannot  choose  at  will.  We  have  made  professions, 
we  have  assumed  an  attitude,  we  have  taken  upon  ourselves 
responsibility,  we  have  declared  ourselves  the  champions  of 
freedom.  Ah !  Remember,  across  the  half -century ,  the  words 
of  Lincoln:  "Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  Fathers 
brought  forth  upon  this  Continent  a  new  nation  conceived 
in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are 
created  equal." 

One  cannot  be  an  American,  with  the  history  of  America, 
without  responsibility,  and  that  responsibility  confronts  the 
people  of  our  country  to-day  to  protect  the  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can freedom. 

349 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

"Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to  decide 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil  side. 
Some  great  cause,  God's  new  Messiah,  offering  each  the  bloom  or 

blight, 
Parts  the  goats  upon  the  left  hand,  and  the  sheep  upon  the  right, 
And  the  choice  goes  by  forever  'twixt   that  darkness  and  that 

light."  » 

As  I  am  finishing  this  chapter  there  come  to  hand 
two  illustrations  of  German  psychology  that  the 
American  people  can  easily  understand. 

I  refer  first  to  the  proposal  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment to  align  Mexico  and  Japan  against  the  United 
States.  Secondly  to  the  charge  of  Dr.  Zimmermann, 
Foreign  Minister  of  Germany,  that  the  United  States 
endeavored  to  form  a  coalition  of  American  Republics 
against  Germany. 

Think  of  the  childish  fatuity  of  the  suggestion  that 
Mexico,  with  German  aid,  at  a  time  when  Germany 
is  absolutely  blockaded,  should  set  out  to  dismember 
the  United  States!  This  brings  to  mind  the  French 
belief  that  the  German  mind  has  a  child's  outlook  on 
international  affairs. 

Further,  let  us  consider  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
German  Government  to  think  that  a  people  with  the 
high  sense  of  honor  of  the  Japanese  should  suddenly 
treat  a  solemn  pact  as  a  scrap  of  paper! 

But  the  most  illuminating  revelation  is  the  charge 
by  Dr.  Zimmermann  expressed  in  these  words :  — 

And  if  we  really,  as  the  report  alleges,  considered  the 
possibility  of  a  hostile  act  by  the  United  States  against  us, 
then  we  really  had  reasons  to  do  so. 

An  Argentine  newspaper  which  printed  a  story  a  short 
time  ago  really  revealed  the  plot  in  telling  that  the  United 

1  Lowell,  The  Present  Crisis. 
350 


GERMAN  THEORIES  AND  PRACTICE 

States  last  year  suggested  to  the  other  American  republics 
common  action  against  Germany  and  her  allies. 

This  plot  was  apparently  not  conditional  in  the  least. 
The  news  as  published  by  the  newspaper  "La  Prensa"  well 
agreed  with  the  interpretation  given,  for  instance,  by  the 
American  newspaper  man  Edward  Price  Bell,  London 
correspondent,  who  said  that  the  United  States  was  only 
waiting  for  the  proper  moment  in  order  to  opportunely 
assist  the  Entente. 

The  same  American  stated  that  Americans  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  really  participated  in  it  by  putting  the 
immense  resources  of  the  United  States  at  the  Entente's 
disposal  and  that  the  Americans  had  not  declared  war 
only  because  they  felt  sure  that  assistance  by  friendly  neu- 
trality would  be  during  that  time  much  more  efficient  for 
the  Entente  than  direct  participation  in  the  war. 

Whether  this  American  newspaper  man  reported  the  fact 
exactly  we  were  at  a  loss  to  judge  in  satisfactory  fashion, 
since  we  were  more  or  less  completely  cut  off  from  real  com- 
munication with  the  United  States. 

But  there  were  other  facts  which  seemed  to  confirm  this 
and  similar  assurances.  Everybody  knows  these  facts  and 
I  need  not  repeat  them. 

Dr.  Zimmermann's  assertion  and  the  proofs  he  al- 
leges are  of  exactly  the  same  character  as  the  German 
charges  and  proofs  against  Belgium,  and  the  claim 
that  England  was  really  guilty  of  causing  this  war. 

All  Germany  to-day  believes  that  the  United  States 
endeavored  to  form  a  warlike  coalition  against  Ger- 
many. The  revelations  that  have  so  startled  and 
shocked  the  American  people  throw  a  clear  light  on 
all  the  controverted  questions  I  discuss  in  this  book. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ALLEGED   ATROCITIES   IN    FRANCE 

The  records  of  the  alleged  atrocities  by  German 
officers  and  German  soldiers  in  France  are  more  ter- 
rible than  the  similar  records  of  atrocities  in  Belgium. 
The  material  in  the  hands  of  the  French  Government 
convinces  the  people  absolutely  of  the  truth  of  the 
charges.  The  main  body  of  records  was  secured  from 
the  regions  temporarily  occupied  by  the  German 
armies  before  the  battle  of  the  Marne.  I  quote  from 
the  French  "Official  Report  on  German  Atrocities " :  -— 

Having  been  instructed  to  investigate  atrocities  said  to 
have  been  committed  by  the  Germans  in  portions  of  French 
territory  which  had  been  occupied  by  them,  a  commission 
composed  of  four  representatives  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment repaired  to  these  districts  in  order  to  make  a  tho- 
rough investigation.  The  commission  was  composed  of  M. 
Georges  Payelle,  First  President  of  the  Cour  des  Comptes; 
Armand  Mollard,  Minister  Plenipotentiary;  Georges  Ma- 
ringer,  Counselor  of  State;  and  Edinond  Paillot,  Counselor 
of  the  Cour  de  Cassation. 

They  started  on  their  mission  late  in  September  last  and 
visited  the  Departments  of  Seine-et-Marne,  Marne,  Meuse, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle,  Oise,  and  Aisne.  According  to  the 
report,  they  made  note  only  of  those  accusations  against 
the  invaders  which  were  backed  up  by  reliable  testimony 
and  discarded  everything  that  might  have  been  occasioned 
by  the  exigencies  of  war. 

In  truth  it  can  be  stated  that  never  has  a  war  carried 
on  between  civilized  nations  assumed  the  savage  and  fero- 
cious character  of  the  one  which  at  this  moment  is  being 

352 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES   IN  FRANCE 

waged  on  our  soil  by  an  implacable  adversary.  Pillage,  rape, 
arson,  and  murder  are  the  common  practice  of  our  enemies; 
and  the  facts  which  have  been  revealed  to  us  day  by  day 
at  once  constitute  definite  crimes  against  common  rights, 
punished  by  the  codes  of  every  country  with  the  most  se- 
vere and  the  most  dishonoring  penalties,  and  which  prove 
an  astonishing  degeneration  in  German  habits  of  thought 
since  1870. 

Crimes  against  women  and  young  girls  have  been  of  ap- 
palling frequency.  We  have  proved  a  great  number  of  them, 
but  they  only  represent  an  infinitesimal  proportion  of  those 
which  we  could  have  taken  up.  Owing  to  a  sense  of  decency, 
which  is  deserving  of  every  respect,  the  victims  of  these 
hateful  acts  usually  refuse  to  disclose  them.  Doubtless 
fewer  would  have  been  committed  if  the  leaders  of  an  army 
whose  discipline  is  most  rigorous  had  taken  any  trouble  to 
prevent  them;  yet,  strictly  speaking,  they  can  only  be  con- 
sidered as  the  individual  and  spontaneous  acts  of  uncaged 
beasts.  But  with  regard  to  arson,  theft,  and  murder  the 
case  is  very  different;  the  officers,  even  those  of  the  high- 
est station,  will  bear  before  humanity  the  overwhelming  re- 
sponsibility for  these  crimes. 

In  the  greater  part  of  the  places  where  we  carried  on 
our  inquiry  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  German 
Army  constantly  professes  the  most  complete  contempt  for 
human  life,  that  its  soldiers,  and  even  its  officers,  do  not 
hesitate  to  finish  off  the  wounded,  that  they  kill  without 
pity  the  inoffensive  inhabitants  of  the  territories  which 
they  have  invaded,  and. they  do  not  spare  in  their  murder- 
ous rage  women,  old  men,  or  children.  The  wholesale  shoot- 
ings at  Luneville,  Gerbeviller,  Nomeny,  and  Senlis  are  ter- 
rible examples  of  this;  and  in  the  course  of  this  report  you 
will  read  the  story  of  scenes  of  carnage  in  which  officers 
themselves  have  not  been  ashamed  to  take  part. 

On  the  6th  of  September  at  Champguyon,  Mme.  Louvet 
was  present  at  the  martyrdom  of  her  husband.  She  saw 
him  in  the  hands  of  ten  or  fifteen  soldiers,  who  were  beating 
him  to  death  before  his  own  house,  and  ran  up  and  kissed 
him  through  the  bars  of  the  gate.  She  was  brutally  pushed 

353 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

back  and  fell,  while  the  murderers  dragged  along  the  un- 
happy man  covered  with  blood,  begging  them  to  spare  his 
life  and  protesting  that  he  had  done  nothing  to  be  treated 
thus.  He  was  finished  off  at  the  end  of  the  village.  When 
his  wife  found  his  body  it  was  horribly  disfigured.  His  head 
was  beaten  in,  one  of  his  eyes  hung  from  the  socket,  and 
one  of  his  wrists  was  broken. 

During  our  stay  at  Nancy  and  Luneville,  we  had  the 
opportunity  of  receiving  a  good  deal  of  evidence  with  refer- 
ence to  crimes  committed  by  the  Germans  in  districts  which 
were  still  occupied  by  their  troops,  and  which  the  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  had  been  forced  to  evacuate.  The  most 
cruel  of  these  acts  took  place  at  the  village  of  Embermenil. 
At  the  end  of  October  or  the  beginning  of  November,  an 
enemy  patrol  met  near  this  commune  a  young  woman, 
Mme.  Masson,  who  was  obviously  pregnant,  and  questioned 
her  as  to  whether  there  were  French  soldiers  at  Embermenil. 
She  replied  that  she  did  not  know,  which  was  true.  The 
Germans  then  entered  the  village  and  were  received  by  our 
soldiers  with  rifle  fire.  On  the  5th  of  November  a  detach- 
ment of  the  Fourth  Bavarian  Regiment  arrived  and  col- 
lected all  the  inhabitants  in  front  of  the  church.  An  officer 
then  asked  which  person  it  was  who  had  betrayed  them. 
Suspecting  that  he  referred  to  her  meeting  with  the  Germans 
some  days  before,  and  realizing  the  danger  that  all  her  fel- 
low citizens  ran,  Mme.  Masson  with  great  courage  stepped 
forward  and  repeated  what  she  had  said,  and  declared  that 
in  saying  it  she  had  acted  in  good  faith.  She  was  imme- 
diately seized  and  forced  to  sit  down  on  a  bench  beside 
young  Dime,  aged  twenty-four,  who  had  been  taken  hap- 
hazard as  a  second  victim.  The  whole  population  begged 
for  mercy  for  the  unhappy  woman,  but  the  Germans  were 
inflexible.  "One  woman  and  one  man,"  they  said,  "must 
be  shot.  Those  are  the  colonel's  orders.  What  will  you? 
It  is  war."  Eight  soldiers  drawn  up  in  two  ranks  fired  three 
times  at  the  two  martyrs  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  vil- 
lage. The  house  of  Mme.  Masson's  father-in-law  was  then 
set  on  fire.  That  of  M.  Blanchin  had  been  burned  a  few 
moments  before. 

«■*  ~A 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES   IN  FRANCE 

Treatment  of  the  civil  population 

I  give  here  a  summary  made  by  Professor  Morgan 
from  material  collected  with  the  most  rigorous  care- 
fulness :  — 

As  the  German  troops  passed  through  the  communes  and 
towns  of  the  arrondissements  of  Ypres,  Hazebrouck,  Be- 
thune,  and  Lille,  they  shot  indiscriminately  at  the  innocent 
spectators  of  their  march;  the  peasant  tilling  his  fields,  the 
refugee  tramping  the  roads,  and  the  workman  returning  to 
his  home.  To  be  seen  was  often  dangerous,  to  attempt  to 
escape  being  seen  was  invariably  fatal.  Old  men  and  boys 
and  even  women  and  young  girls  were  shot  like  rabbits. 
The  slightest  failure  to  comply  with  the  peremptory  de- 
mands of  the  invader  has  been  punished  with  instant  death. 
The  cure  of  Pradelle,  having  failed  to  find  the  key  of  the 
church  tower,  was  put  against  the  wall  and  shot;  a  shep- 
herd at  a  lonely  farmhouse  near  Rebais  who  failed  to  pro- 
duce bread  for  the  German  troops  had  his  head  blown  off 
by  a  rifle;  a  baker  at  Moorslede  who  attempted  to  escape 
was  suffocated  by  German  soldiers  with  his  own  scarf;  a 
young  mother  at  Bailleul  who  was  unable  to  produce  suffi- 
cient coffee  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  twenty -three  German 
soldiers  had  her  baby  seized  by  one  of  the  latter  and  its  head 
dipped  in  scalding  water;  an  old  man  of  seventy-seven  years 
of  age  at  La  Ferte  Gaucher  who  attempted  to  protect  two 
women  in  his  house  from  outrage  was  killed  with  a  rifle  shot. 

At  Doulieu,  which  is  a  small  village,  eleven  civilians  were 
shot;  they  were  strangers  to  the  place,  and  it  was  only  by 
subsequent  examination  of  the  papers  found  on  their 
bodies  that  some  of  them  were  identified  as  inhabitants  of 
neighboring  villages.  If  these  men  had  been  guilty  of  any 
act  of  hostility  it  is  not  clear  why  they  were  not  shot  at 
once  in  their  own  villages,  and  inquiries  at  some  of  the  vil- 
lages from  which  they  were  taken  have  revealed  no  knowl- 
edge of  any  act  of  the  kind.  It  is,  however,  a  common  prac- 
tice for  the  German  troops  to  seize  the  male  inhabitants 
(especially  those  of  military  age)  of  the  places  they  occupy 


355 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  take  them  away  on  their  retreat.  Twenty-five  were  so 
taken  from  Bailleul  and  nothing  has  been  heard  of  them 
since.  There  is  only  too  much  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
same  fate  has  overtaken  them  as  that  which  befell  the 
unhappy  men  executed  at  Doulieu. 

I  believe  the  explanation  of  these  sinister  proceedings 
to  be  that  the  men  were  compelled  to  dig  trenches  for  the 
enemy,  to  give  information  as  to  the  movement  of  their 
own  troops,  and  to  act  as  guides  (all  clearly  practices  which 
are  a  breach  of  the  laws  of  war  and  of  the  Hague  Regula- 
tions), and  then,  their  presence  being  inconvenient  and 
their  knowledge  of  the  enemy's  positions  and  movements 
compromising,  they  were  put  to  death.  This  is  not  a  mere 
surmise.  The  male  inhabitants  of  Warneton  were  forced 
to  dig  trenches  for  the  enemy,  and  an  inhabitant  of  Merris 
was  compelled  to  go  with  the  German  troops  and  act  as  a 
guide;  it  is  notorious  that  the  official  manual  of  the  German 
General  Staff,  " Kriegsbrauch  in  Landskriege,"  condones, 
and  indeed  indoctrinates,  such  breaches  of  the  laws  of  war. 
British  soldiers  who  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Germans 
and  subsequently  escaped  were  compelled  by  their  captors 
to  dig  trenches,  and  in  a  field  notebook  found  on  a  soldier  of 
the  100th  Saxon  Body  Grenadiers  (Twelfth  Corps)  occurs 
the  following  significant  passage :  — 

My  two  prisoners  worked  hard  at  digging  trenches. 
At  midday  I  got  the  order  to  rejoin  at  village  with 
my  prisoners.  I  was  very  glad,  as  I  had  been  ordered 
to  shoot  them  both  as  soon  as  the  French  attacked. 
Thank  God  it  was  not  necessary. 

Those  who  were  sent  home  told  of  their  journey  from 
their  homes  to  the  concentration  camps  in  Germany, 
marches  and  nights  spent  in  enclosures,  in  a  station,  in  a 
church;  days  without  food  and  crowded  into  cattle  trucks. 
And  then  the  terrible  scene  at  Liibeck!  The  men  were 
ordered  to  get  out  of  the  train  and  were  then  taken  in  one 
direction,  while  the  women  were  sent  in  another.  Some- 
times the  separation  took  place  at  the  outset.  "What  was 
particularly  revolting,"  add  the  commissioners,  "was  that 

356 


ALLEGED   ATROCITIES   IN  FRANCE 

the  Germany  military  authority  in  seizing  haphazard  the 
various  people  who  happened  to  be  on  the  spot,  had  no  com- 
punction in  separating  the  various  members  of  a  family.  .  .  . 
Little  children  were  placed  in  one  convoy  and  their  mothers 
in  another,  and  some  women  are  still  ignorant  as  to  the  fate 
of  their  husbands." 

Like  Nomeny,  the  pretty  town  of  Gerbeviller,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mortagne,  fell  a  victim  to  the  fury  of  the  Ger- 
mans under  terrible  circumstances.  On  the  24th  of  August 
the  enemy's  troops  hurled  themselves  against  some  sixty 
chasseurs-a-pied,  who  offered  heroic  resistance,  and  who 
inflicted  heavy  loss  upon  them.  They  took  a  drastic  ven- 
geance upon  the  civilian  population.  Indeed,  from  the 
moment  of  their  entrance  into  the  town,  the  Germans  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  worst  excesses,  entering  the  houses, 
with  savage  yells,  burning  the  buildings,  killing,  arresting 
the  inhabitants,  and  sparing  neither  women  nor  old  men. 
Out  of  four  hundred  and  seventy-five  houses,  twenty  at 
most  are  still  habitable.  More  than  one  hundred  persons 
have  disappeared,  fifty  at  least  have  been  massacred.  Some 
were  led  into  the  fields  to  be  shot,  others  were  murdered  in 
their  houses  or  struck  down  in  passing  through  the  streets 
as  they  were  trying  to  escape  from  the  conflagration.  Up 
to  now  thirty-six  bodies  have  been  identified.  They  are 
those  of  MM.  Barthelemy,  Blosse  (Senior),  Robinet,  Chre- 
tien, Remy,  Bourguignon,  Perrin,  Guillaume,  Bernasconi, 
Gauthier,  Menu,  Simon,  Lingenheld  (father  and  son),  Be- 
noit,  Calais,  Adam,  Caille,  Lhuillier,  Regret,  Plaid  (aged 
fourteen),  Leroi,  Bazzolo,  Gentil,  Victor  Dehan,  Charles 
Dehan,  Dehan  the  Younger,  Brennevald,  Parisse,  Yong, 
Frangois,  Secretary  of  the  Mairie;  Mmes.  Perrot,  Courtois, 
Gauthier,  and  Guillaume,  and  Miles.  Perrin  and  Miquel. 

Fifteen  of  these  poor  people  were  executed  at  a  place 
called  "La  Prele."  They  were  buried  by  their  fellow-citi- 
zens on  September  12  or  15.  Almost  all  had  their  hands 
tied  behind  their  backs. 

This  massacre  lasted  two  days. 

357 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  "Nineteenth  Century"  for  September,  1916, 
publishes  the  following :  — 

It  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nancy  that  the  most  wide- 
spread damage  has  been  wrought.  The  Germans,  before 
they  were  driven  back,  swarmed  all  over  the  district,  and  a 
motor  drive  demonstrates  how  much  the  villages  differ  in 
the  treatment  they  received  at  the  hands  of  the  invader. 
Some  escaped  lightly,  whilst  a  kilometre  or  so  distant  a 
village  has  been  destroyed,  and  probably  without  any  valid 
pretext.  Possibly  a  village  that  suffered  as  much  as  any  is 
Gerbeviller,  but  it  is  not  unique.  German  military  disci- 
pline is  too  strict  for  detachments  of  troops  to  get  out  of 
hand.  An  orgy  such  as  happened  at  Gerbeviller  could  only 
arise  with  the  connivance  of  the  officer  in  command. 

In  one  of  the  houses,  which  has  been  recently  repaired, 
Sister  Julie,  the  heroic  Sister  of  Mercy  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Charles,  is  to  be  found.  She  is  a  small  woman,  wearing  the 
dress  of  the  order,  and  decorated  with  the  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  a  distinction  conferred  on  few  other 
women;  her  face  shows  keen  intelligence,  sound  common 
sense,  and  great  courage;  a  lady  who  would  command  re- 
spect from  all  and  would  prove  a  judicious  friend  to  those 
in  distress.  Her  sense  of  justice  would  deprive  her  of  all 
fear,  and  probably  it  is  to  this  that  she  and  many  others 
owe  their  escape.  In  her  small  room,  recently  repaired,  and 
now  furnished  only  with  a  six-feet  square  of  carpet,  four 
Windsor  chairs,  and  a  small  table  with  a  red  cloth,  she  gave 
me  an  account  of  what  had  happened  and  afterwards  con- 
firmed in  it  writing  under  the  seal  of  the  Hospice.  From  it 
the  following  sentences  are  taken:  more  might  be  given:  — 

A  young  woman  named  Eugenie  Perrin  resisted  the 
Germans,  who,  after  subjecting  her  by  force  to  the  last 
outrages,  poured  petroleum  over  her  and  set  her  on 
fire.  An  epileptic,  a  young  man  of  military  age,  named 
Lingenheld,  a  non-combatant,  suffered  in  the  same 
way  in  the  presence  of  his  mother.  A  baker  was  thrown 
alive  into  his  oven.  The  mayor's  clerk,  a  man  named 

358 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  FRANCE 

Francois,  after  having  a  revolver  held  in  turn  to  his 
forehead,  temples,  and  heart,  was  killed  by  the  officer 
by  a  blow  on  the  head.  An  old  man  of  ninety-nine 
years  named  Barthelemy  was  pinned  to  the  ground  by 
a  bayonet  through  the  left  eye;  whilst  other  old  men 
were  tied  together  in  batches  of  five  and  then  shot. 
More  than  a  hundred  inhabitants  of  the  village  are 
missing.  It  cannot  be  urged  as  an  excuse  that  the 
Germans  were  drunk,  and  the  officer  in  command  could 
have  restrained  them  if  he  had  so  wished;  but  this  un- 
bridled license  turned  to  hatred  of  their  victims  as  soon 
as  they  saw  they  would  have  to  evacuate  the  village. 
Then  it  was  that  house  after  house  was  systematically 
set  on  fire,  special  appliances  having  been  brought  for 
the  purpose.  Out  of  four  hundred  and  seventy-five 
houses  scarcely  twenty  remain. 

After  describing  an  occurrence  that  I  do  not  care 
to  print,  Professor  Morgan  writes :  — 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  the  woman  went  mad. 
There  is  very  strong  reason  to  suspect  that  young  girls  were 
carried  off  to  the  trenches  by  licentious  German  soldiery, 
and  there  abused  by  hordes  of  savage  and  licentious  men. 
People  in  hiding  in  the  cellars  of  houses  have  heard  the 
voices  of  women  in  the  hands  of  German  soldiers  crying 
all  night  long  until  death  or  stupor  ended  their  agonies. 
One  of  our  officers,  a  subaltern  in  the  sappers,  heard  a  wom- 
an's shrieks  in  the  night  coming  from  behind  the  German 
trenches  near  Richebourg  l'Avoue;  when  we  advanced  in 
the  morning  and  drove  the  Germans  out,  a  girl  was  found 
lying  naked  on  the  ground  "pegged  out"  in  the  form  of  a 
crucifix.  I  need  not  go  on  with  this  chapter  of  horrors.  To 
the  end  of  time  it  will  be  remembered,  and  from  one  gen- 
eration to  another,  in  the  plains  of  Flanders,  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Vosges,  and  on  the  rolling  fields  of  the  Marne,  the 
oral  tradition  of  men  will  perpetuate  this  story  of  infamy 
and  wrong. 

I  publish  herewith  extracts  from  an  article  which 

359 


OBSTACLES   TO   PEACE 

was  published  on  the  18th  of  October,  1914,  in  the 
"Jauersches  Tageblatt."  Jauer  is  a  town  in  Silesia, 
about  thirty  miles  west  of  Breslau. 

The  article  was  written  by  a  non-commissioned 
officer,  named  Klempt,  1st  Company,  Infantry  Regi- 
ment 54.  It  is  headed:  — 

A  Day  of  Honor  for  our  Regiment,  24th  September,  1914 

Klempt  tells  how  on  the  24th  of  September  his 
regiment  which  had  left  Hannonville  in  the  morning, 
supported  on  the  march  by  Austrian  batteries,  was 
suddenly  received  by  a  double  fire  from  artillery  and 
infantry.  The  losses  were  enormous.  And  yet  the 
enemy  was  invisible.  At  last,  however,  it  was  seen 
that  the  firing  came  from  above,  from  trees  where 
French  soldiers  were  posted.  From  now  on  I  shall  no 
longer  summarize,  but  quote :  — 

We  brought  them  down  like  squirrels,  and  gave  them  a 
warm  reception,  with  blows  of  the  butt  and  the  bayonet: 
they  no  longer  need  doctors;  we  are  no  longer  fighting  loyal 
enemies,  but  treacherous  brigands. 

By  leaps  and  bounds  we  got  across  the  clearing.  They 
were  here,  there,  and  everywhere  hidden  in  the  thicket. 
Now  it  is  down  with  the  enemy!  And  we  will  give  them  no 
quarter.  Every  one  shoots  standing;  a  few,  a  very  few, 
fire  kneeling.  No  one  tries  to  take  shelter.  We  reach  a 
little  depression  in  the  ground:  here  the  "red  trousers" 
dead  or  wounded  lie  in  a  heap  around.  We  knock  down  or 
bayonet  the  wounded,  for  we  know  that  those  scoundrels 
fire  at  our  backs  when  we  have  gone  by.  There  was  a 
Frenchman  there  stretched  out,  full  length,  face  down, 
pretending  to  be  dead.  A  kick  from  a  strong  fusilier  soon 
taught  him  that  we  were  there.  Turning  round,  he  asked 
for  quarter,  but  we  answered,  "  Is  that  the  way  your  tools 
work,  you?"  —  and  he  was  nailed  to  the  ground.  Close  to 

360 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES   IN  FRANCE 

me  I  heard  odd  cracking  sounds.  They  were  blows  from  a 
gun  on  the  bald  head  of  a  Frenchman  which  a  private  of 
the  154th  was  dealing  out  vigorously;  he  was  wisely  using  a 
French  gun  so  as  not  to  break  his  own.  Tender-hearted 
souls  are  so  kind  to  the  French  wounded  that  they  finish 
them  with  a  bullet,  but  others  give  them  as  many  thrusts 
and  blows  as  they  can. 

Our  adversaries  had  fought  bravely,  we  had  to  contend 
with  picked  men;  they  let  us  get  within  thirty,  even  ten 
metres  of  them  —  too  near.  Sacks  and  arms  thrown  away 
in  quantities  showed  that  they  had  tried  to  run,  but  at  the 
sight  of  the  "gray  phantoms"  fear  paralyzed  them,  and  on 
the  narrow  path  they  had  to  take,  German  bullets  brought 
them  the  word  of  command,  Halt.  At  the  entry  into  the 
screen  of  branches,  there  they  lay  groaning  and  crying  for 
quarter.  But  whether  wounded  slightly  or  severely,  the 
brave  fusiliers  spare  their  country  the  cost  of  caring  for 
many  enemies. 

There  has  recently  been  published  a  book  entitled 
"The  Martyrs  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine."  I  quote  from 
a  review  of  the  book  by  M.  Stephen  Pichon,  formerly 
Foreign  Minister  of  France :  — 

More  than  forty-five  years  have  gone  by  since  Alsace 
and  a  portion  of  Lorraine  were  torn  from  France.  Arbi- 
trary exercise  of  power,  delation,  police  rule,  and  terrorism 
have  been  the  methods  of  Germanization  employed  unin- 
terruptedly against  the  population  of  the  provinces.  But 
what  tongue  can  tell  their  sufferings  since  the  war  began! 
The  treatment  that  has  been  inflicted  upon  them  puts  them 
in  the  rank  of  the  most  unfortunate  people  that  history  has 
known.  Their  martyrdom  is  equal  to  that  of  the  Venetians 
and  Lombards,  the  Poles  or  the  inhabitants  of  the  Two 
Sicilies.  Suspects  in  Alsace-Lorraine  have  been  dealt  with 
by  the  Kaiser's  agents  like  the  worst  malefactors  —  spies, 
traitors,  or  assassins.  Long  ago  the  police  had  drawn  up  a 
list  of  those  of  them  who  were  to  be  arrested,  imprisoned, 
deported,  condemned,  or  shot;  and  even  before  hostilities 

361 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

had  opened  between  the  two  armies  the  executions  had 
begun.  Any  one  who  was  regarded  as  friendly  to  France 
was  arrested;  traders,  manufacturers,  peasants,  landowners, 
Catholic  priests,  and  Protestant  pastors  came  into  the  iron 
grip.  The  fortresses,  and  principally  that  of  Ehrenbreitstein, 
were  filled  with  prisoners. 

It  hardly  needs  saying  that  the  women  and  children  have 
not  been  spared.  Great  numbers  of  these  women  have  been 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  even  condemned  to  hard 
labor!  As  for  the  children,  they  are  shot  without  any  form 
of  trial  when  they  are  suspected  of  intelligence  or  of  com- 
munication with  the  French. 

Even  among  the  officials  and  functionaries,  nominated 
and  carefully  tested  as  these  are  by  the  Prussian  authorities, 
one  finds  victims  of  German  suspicion.  As  for  the  Alsace- 
Lorraine  soldiery  who  were  called  to  the  colors  to  fight 
against  France,  the  Germans  have  rid  themselves  of  diffi- 
culties by  sending  them  to  the  Russian  front,  by  imposing 
labors  upon  them  above  their  strength,  by  torturing  them, 
by  bringing  about  their  death  by  privations  and  blows. 

Another  thing  that  grows  is  the  number  of  unfortunates 
whose  names  are  placarded  on  red  posters,  and  who  have 
been  ruthlessly  shot,  on  the  pretext  of  espionage.  These 
placards  should  be^piously  preserved  and  re-read  when  the 
time  comes.  Those  whose  names  are  mentioned  there  will 
have  the  right  later  on  to  monuments,  erected  by  patriotic 
piety.  So  far  from  the  aim  that  their  assassins  had  in  view 
being  achieved,  these  victims  are  glorified  in  the  eyes  of  the 
population. 

It  is  but  a  weak  and  a  very  incomplete  picture  that  I 
have  given  of  the  sorrows  and  misery  of  the  French  people 
of  Alsace-Lorraine.  I  ask  a  place  for  them  in  the  hearts  of 
our  friends. 

The  two  million  inhabitants  of  France  in  the  terri- 
tory occupied  by  the  German  armies  are  subject  to 
the  same  regime  as  are  the  Belgians,  excepting  that 
all   the   farm   produce  is   taken  by   Germany.    The 

362 


ALLEGED  ATROCITIES  IN  FRANCE 

French  Government  buys  the  food  for  this  impris- 
oned population,  and  it  is  handled  and  distributed 
by  the  American  Commission  which  has  charge  of 
the  feeding  of  Belgium. 

This  is  a  good  place  to  speak  of  Mr.  H.  C.  Hoover, 
the  head  of  the  Belgian  Commission.  Mr.  Hoover  is 
responsible  for  organizing  the  forces  that  saved  Bel- 
gium and  the  occupied  portion  of  France  from  starva- 
tion. 

The  feeling  in  France  arising  from  the  absolute 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  records  of  alleged  atroci- 
ties is  one  of  the  most  influential  factors  in  deter- 
mining France's  prosecution  of  the  war  to  a  victorious 
conclusion. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   ALLEGED   ATROCITIES   BY   THE   RUSSIAN 
SOLDIERS   IN    EAST    PRUSSIA 

Less  is  known  about  the  invasion  of  East  Prussia  by 
the  Russian  armies  than  about  any  other  part  of  the 
war  area  in  the  countries  of  Western  Europe.  Years 
ago,  in  traveling  through  this  region,  I  remarked  its 
appearance  of  placid  prosperity  and  agricultural 
wealth.  Last  February,  I  saw  the  terrible  destruc- 
tion in  its  towns  and  hamlets.  The  suffering  and  de- 
portations of  the  inhabitants  of  East  Prussia  will 
never  be  forgotten  in  Germany. 

Judge  Nippert,  of  Cincinnati,  brought  this  message 
to  America  from  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States :  — 

It  might  be  well  for  America  to  know  that  of  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  women,  children,  and  old  men,  driven 
by  the  Cossacks  out  of  one  town  on  the  Prussian  frontier, 
across  the  icy  fields  and  snow-covered  steppes  into  Russia, 
forty  per  cent  of  the  children  have  died  and  thirty  per  cent 
of  the  women.  Ten  thousand  women  and  children  and 
old  men  have  been  driven  into  Russia  from  the  Prussian 
frontier. 

It  is  the  fate  of  these  non-belligerents  that  causes  me  to 
express  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  the  wish  and 
hope  that  America,  as  the  great  nation  which  has  done  so 
much  for  the  different  war-stricken  districts,  will  not  turn 
a  deaf  ear  to  the  call  of  the  children  and  the  tears  of  the 
mothers  who  are  still  surviving  Russian  captivity  to-day. 

If  America,  with  her  standing  among  the  nations  of  the 
world,  could  exercise  her  great  influence,  through  her  Gov- 

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ATROCITIES  BY  RUSSIAN  SOLDIERS 

eminent  and  its  President,  to  prevail  upon  Russia  to  re- 
lease the  surviving  remnant  of  this  vast  number  of  those 
who  have  suffered,  then  America  would,  indeed,  be  doing  an 
act  of  humanity  for  which  my  people  would  be  eternally 
grateful.  We  ask  nothing  for  our  army  or  for  ourselves, 
but  fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  are  standing 
in  despair  at  our  frontier  looking  for  the  return  of  those  who 
are  near  and  dear  to  them,  and  we  are  helpless. 

A  third  winter  of  war  in  Russia  will  mean  the  absolute 
annihilation  of  every  woman,  certainly  every  child,  who 
is  being  held  captive  in  the  country  beyond  the  Fatherland. 
Here  is  an  opportunity  for  America  to  invoke  the  spirit  of 
humanity  and  bring  happiness  and  joy  where  to-day  is 
only  sorrow  and  distress.  .  .  . 

The  Emperor,  according  to  Judge  Nippert,  ex- 
pressed much  surprise  that  the  American  people,  who 
had  accepted  as  true  all  the  stories  of  the  destruction 
of  the  Rheims  Cathedral  and  the  Hotel  de  Ville  in 
Louvain  by  the  Germans,  should  take  no  interest, 
seemingly,  in  the  wanton  destruction  by  the  Cossacks 
of  churches  erected  in  East  Prussia  in  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  by  the  Knights  of  the  Crusades. 
Judge  Nippert  continues:  — 

While  Belgium  and  Poland  had  their  relief  fund,  and 
Northern  France  its  aid,  and  Servia,  Montenegro,  Albania, 
and  Macedonia  were  also  under  the  affluent  protectorate 
of  benevolent  American  millionaires,  —  even  far-off  Ar- 
menia had  her  wealthy  American  benefactors,  —  poor  East 
Prussia  had  been  left  out.  The  ravages  of  war  have  been 
more  violent  and  more  uncompromising  there  than  in  any 
part  of  the  area  covered  by  the  armies.  And  yet,  little  is 
known  in  this  country  of  the  extensive  material  destruc- 
tion which  has  been  carried  on  without  any  military  neces- 
sity or  reason. 

The  history  of  sorrow,  distress,  crime,  and  devastation, 
the  murder  of  innocents,  the  rape  of  women,  torture  of 

365 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

men,  destruction  of  schools  and  churches,  the  burning  of 
farms,  killing  of  wonderful  Holstein  herds  —  it  all  goes  to 
make  a  page  in  the  history  of  the  European  war  that,  as 
yet,  has  not  been  read  by  the  American  public.  There  is  no 
sadder  story  —  none  that  should  appeal  more  to  the  sym- 
pathetic hearts  of  a  sympathetic  nation  than  this  story  of 
Cossack  invasion  of  the  beautiful  prairies  and  forests  of 
East  Prussia.  .  .  . 

The  Russians  came  out  of  the  forest  over  night  like  hun- 
gry wolves  and  took  possession  of  the  entire  country.  The 
bridges  to  the  Fatherland  were  blown  up  and  the  ferries 
across  the  Jura  were  either  destroyed  or  captured  by  the 
Russians.  Five  thousand  people  were  literally  marooned. 
The  Germans  were  unable  to  drive  the  Cossacks  out  of 
these  districts,  and  up  to  February  15,  1915,  they  had  un- 
disputed sway  and  added  a  bloody  page  to  the  history  of 
warfare. 

When  the  Cossacks  left,  of  the  five  thousand  people  of 
the  Bearskin  district  three  thousand  were  carried  to  the 
den  of  the  Russian  bear.  When  I  say  three  thousand  I  do 
not  mean  men;  I  mean  women,  with  all  their  children.  The 
men  were  at  war,  or  had  been  taken  prisoners  by  the  Rus- 
sians early  in  the  game.  This  fate  befell  mothers  with  from 
two  to  twelve  children,  ranging  in  age  from  two  months  to 
sixteen  years.  Little  girls,  little  boys  —  neither  sex  nor  age 
received  mercy  at  the  hands  of  these  Russian  brutes. 

The  Cossacks  gathered  them  like  the  Texas  cowboy 
would  round  up  his  cattle  and  drove  them  along  the  high- 
ways into  the  Russian  inferno.  Mothers  gave  birth  to  chil- 
dren in  the  forests  with  the  snow  for  a  cradle  and  a  dark 
Russian  pine  for  a  canopy.  The  children  were  buried  as  soon 
as  they  were  born ;  a  blanket  of  snow  was  all  that  kind  Na- 
ture contributed  to  cover  the  bones  of  the  newborn  victims. 

Let  me  tell  you  that  there  is  in  the  history  of  our  Western 
frontier  during  the  bloodiest  days  of  Sioux  and  Apache 
warfare  nothing  that  can  equal  the  story  of  the  Bearskin. 
I  have  in  my  possession  records  of  villages,  family  by  family, 
with  the  age,  and  so  forth,  of  the  mother  and  each  of  the 
children.   And  it  is  shown  that  of  the  three  thousand  who 

366 


ATROCITIES   BY   RUSSIAN  SOLDIERS 

were  carried  into  Russia  forty  per  cent  of  the  children  have 
died  and  thirty  per  cent  of  the  women.  The  Russian  cattle 
cars  and  the  Russian  steppes  are  no  more  the  respecters  of 
persons,  sex,  or  age  than  the  Cossack,  and  each  has  de- 
manded its  toll. 

From  the  German  official  records,  I  quote  extracts: 

Atrocities  during  the  first  Russian  invasion 

By  U.  Brackmann 

For  other  deeds  the  Russian  cannot  be  excused.  When 
the  Russian  advance  guard,  on  the  2d  and  3d  of  August, 
1914,  removed  from  Eidtkuhnen,  not  only  foodstuffs,  but 
also  plundered  watchmaking  establishments,  when  they 
wrested  away  from  those  they  met  their  watches  and  money, 
then  no  paragraph  in  the  laws  of  war  can  exonerate  them. 
When,  on  August  3,  in  Schwiddern,  in  the  district  of  Jo- 
hannisburg,  whose  destructive  soldiers  without  much  ado 
shot  at  a  woman  over  the  crowd  when  she  called  to  them, 
"But,  men,  what  are  you  doing  there?"  —  when  they 
wounded  an  aged  man  of  eighty  years  who  stood  by,  and 
threw  him,  half  dead,  into  the  burning  house  of  his  son, 
those  things  are,  and  remain,  state  of  war  notwithstanding, 
nothing  more  than  common  murder.  From  the  very  first 
day,  the  troops  conducted  themselves,  not  like  members  of 
a  regular  army,  but  like  true  marauders. 

The  impression  made  by  this  absolutely  unforeseen  and 
ridiculous  behavior  of  those  Russian  advance  guards  is 
vividly  portrayed  in  the  reports  made  by  the  border  popu- 
lations. In  the  district  of  Johannisburg,  for  example,  sev- 
eral citizens  write :  — 

During  the  first  days  of  mobilization,  our  village, 
which  lies  about  two  kilometres  from  the  border,  was 
overrun,  and  what  is  more,  it  was  overrun  by  Cossacks. 
They  rode  in  all  directions  through  the  village,  took 
twenty-eight  horses,  pigs,  geese,  and  cows;  also  money, 
watches,  rings.    These  they  piled  on  wagons,  which 

367 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

they  had  stolen  from  us,  and  took  them  over  the  bor- 
der. They  left  us  and  moved  into  the  neighboring 
village,  where  they  did  the  same  things  over  again. 
To  save  our  lives,  we  had  to  flee  to  the  woods,  where 
we  secluded  ourselves  for  several  nights. 

A  worse  story  is  told  by  the  owner  of  a  mill  in  the  district 
of  Lyck :  — 

On  August  4,  a  patrol  consisting  of  twelve  Cossacks 
entered  our  village,  surrounded  the  homestead  of  my 
neighbor,  and  fired,  without  any  cause,  at  random  at 
the  house.  Braving  the  shots,  the  son  of  the  house  fled 
over  the  garden  hedge.  The  Cossacks  espied  him  and 
called  after  him  to  stop.  As  he  did  not  stand  still,  they 
shot  him  down.  I  stood  about  thirty  paces  away  and 
saw  him  fall  down  dead.  On  the  same  day,  I  saw  a 
mason  coming  on  his  bicycle  from  our  village.  The 
Cossacks  followed  him  immediately,  shot  at  him,  and 
as  he  made  a  halt,  seized  him,  broke  his  handle-bars, 
causing  the  man  to  cry  out  miserably.  He  freed  him- 
self, nevertheless,  fled  into  the  house,  ran  up  one  flight 
of  stairs  and  flung  himself  on  a  bed  to  hide  himself.  A 
Cossack  followed  on  his  heels.  Then  I  heard  dull  shots, 
and  when  I  ran  upstairs  with  several  other  men,  we 
found  the  mason  lying  in  the  bed  with  a  deadly  wound 
in  the  forehead. 

Perhaps  the  best  known  are  the  events  during  these  days 
in  Schwiddern,  near  Bialla,  in  the  district  of  Johannisburg. 
To  this  place,  which  is  very  close  to  the  border,  the  Cos- 
sacks came  very  early  and  immediately  opened  a  dreadful 
fire  on  all  the  homes  and  all  the  inhabitants,  without  the 
slightest  offense  having  been  committed  on  their  part.  As 
about  fifty  persons,  in  sheer  perplexity,  rushed  to  hide  be- 
hind a  dense  hedge,  the  Russians  dropped  fire  on  the  hedge 
and  killed  and  wounded  a  line  of  persons. 

All  these  and  many  other  excesses  were  committed  in 
the  first  days  after  mobilization.  When  later,  the  Russian 
officers  excused  their  atrocities  in  East  Prussia  by  declaring 

368 


ATROCITIES   BY   RUSSIAN   SOLDIERS 

that  they  had  been  revenged  for  the  crimes  committed  by 
our  soldiers  in  Belgium,  we  knew  we  were  best  informed  in 
regard  to  these  perfectly  authentic  reports,  which  were 
nothing  more  than  a  palliative  that  did  not  tally  with  the 
facts.  For  these  misdeeds  took  place  before  the  entrance  of 
our  troops  into  Belgium,  or,  at  any  rate,  at  a  time  when  the 
Russians  could  not  yet  have  obtained  any  knowledge  of 
the  events  that  took  place  there.  Another  reason  why  their 
excuse  lacks  point  is  because  the  behavior  of  the  Russians 
here  in  East  Prussia  cannot  be  compared  to  the  behavior  of 
our  troops  in  Belgium;  for  until  now  it  has  never  been 
proved  that  the  population  of  our  Province  ever  rose  up  in 
arms.  Only  on  one  occasion,  a  few  peasants  banded  to- 
gether and  slew  two  Cossacks  who  tried  to  rape  their  wives 
and  daughters,  and  there  it  was  a  case  of  self-defense,  which 
is  also  permissible  in  war. 

As  soon  as  their  hasty  retreat  made  it  impossible  to  trans- 
port these  people,  the  troops,  with  the  assent  of  their  offi- 
cers, hewed  down  the  population  without  more  ado.  They 
did  not  confine  themselves  at  all  to  the  men,  but  killed 
ruthlessly  whatever  came  within  the  range  of  their  guns 
and  lances.  Only  in  this  way  can  be  explained  the  high 
figures  —  1620  killed  and  433  wounded  citizens. 

It  is  a  usage  of  war  that  sharpshooters  (francs-tireurs) 
shall  be  shot  and  their  houses  burned  down.  But  how  did 
the  Russians  do  this?  On  the  least  suspicion  that  some  one 
had  shot  in  a  village,  they  killed  a  great  number  of  persons 
without  the  least  investigation.  Whoever  fell  into  their 
hands  was  shot  down,  bayoneted,  or  killed  with  the  butt- 
end  of  a  gun.  According  to  Rittergutsbesitzer  Born,  these 
bloody  outrages  took  place  in  the  presence  of  and  with  the 
authority  of  the  higher  Russian  officers.  Without  convin- 
cing themselves  that  it  was  really  a  question  of  sharpshoot- 
ers, they  allowed  half  a  hundred  persons  to  be  killed. 

Harsh  war  levies  and  treatment  of  hostages 

When  Rossel,  a  city  of  about  4400  inhabitants,  within 
one  and  a  half  hours  was  obliged  to  pay  29,000  marks 

369 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

($7250),  one  can  see  the  needless  cruelty.  Lyck,  with  15,- 
000  inhabitants  had  to  pay  a  contribution  of  not  less  than 
$15,000  as  a  compensation  for  Kalisch  (25,000  inhabitants), 
upon  which  city  the  German  troops  had  levied  a  punish- 
ment of  $2500  because  they  had  been  fired  upon. 

The  treatment  of  our  hostages  was  hard  enough.  The 
dragging  of  the  officials  of  Lyck  to  Siberia  was  a  bold  piece 
of  work.  It  may  be  true  enough  that  our  regulations  pro- 
vided for  the  removal  of  Belgian  hostages  to  Germany,  and 
that  they  are  still  being  held  there  to  day.  But  in  our  case 
that  measure  was  inevitable  owing  to  the  fanatical  behavior 
of  the  population,  who  fell  to  arms  like  an  army  of  lions; 
and  seriously,  hardly  even  the  Russians  can  deny  that 
there  is  a  huge  difference  between  a  German  prison  in  a 
fortress  and  the  winter  quarters  in  Siberia.  But  how  do 
these  Russian  leaders  intend  to  justify  the  carting-away  of 
thousands  of  East-Prussian  townsmen,  and  peasants,  who, 
without  regard  to  age  and  sex,  from  the  infant  in  arms  to 
the  woman  ninety  years  of  age,  were  brought  to  the  in- 
terior of  Russia?  Do  by  chance  small  babies  fall  into  the 
category  of  "hostages"  according  to  the  understanding  of 
the  laws  of  nations? 

Summary 

The  misfortune  which  the  Russian  brought  upon  our 
Province  (East  Prussia)  is  exceptionally  great.  It  is  without 
parallel  in  history  that  about  400,000  persons  abandoned 
their  homes  within  twelve  hours,  that  in  a  few  months  a  total 
of  870,000  persons  were  obliged  to  take  flight  for  a  greater 
or  shorter  period  of  time;  it  is  unbelievable  that  more  than 
2000  innocent  individuals  were  killed  or  wounded,  5419 
men  (mostly  the  aged),  2587  women  and  2719  children, 
totaling  to  10,725  persons  in  all,  were  dragged  away,  and 
that  more  than  100,000  lost  all  their  possessions.  In  such  a 
case,  it  is  our  duty  to  give  aid  with  all  our  strength  and  all 
our  means. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES   AGAINST    THE 

RUSSIANS 

The  allegation  of  outrages  committed  by  the  Germans 
upon  Russians  in  German  territory  and  in  Russia  has 
been  drawn  up  by  Colonel  Rezanoff,  adjunct  to  the  mil- 
itary procurer  before  the  tribunal  of  the  military  dis- 
trict of  Petrograd,  in  a  book  composed  of  the  narratives 
of  eye-witnesses  or  of  the  victims  themselves,  carefully 
verified  by  the  author,  as  well  as  from  official  docu- 
ments. 

The  effect  on  the  Russians  of  these  records  of  al- 
leged atrocities  is  the  same  as  the  effect  of  similar  rec- 
ords on  the  French  and  the  English.  They  have  cre- 
ated a  state  of  mind  that  is  hostile  to  peace  without 
victory. 

Colonel  Rezanoff  commenting  on  the  official  docu- 
ments says :  — 

Although  the  exact  hour  of  the  departure  [from  Berlinl 
of  the  members  of  the  embassy,  which  had  been  fixed  by 
the  German  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  could  not  have 
been  unknown  to  the  police,  this  departure  took  place  in 
the  midst  of  a  noisy  demonstration  hostile  to  Russia,  and 
the  rudest  invectives,  and  was  accompanied  by  deeds  of 
violence.  The  mobs  attacked  the  carriages  as  they  were 
leaving  the  hotel  of  the  embassy,  in  which  were  the  members 
of  the  Imperial  Embassy  at  Berlin  and  of  the  various  im- 
perial legations  to  the  other  German  courts.  Almost  all  of 
these  persons  received  more  or  less  violent  blows  in  the  back, 
on  the  neck  or  the  shoulders;  as,  for  example,  the  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  at  Carlsruhe,  Count  Brevern  de  la  Gardie, 

371 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

and  his  wife;  Mme.  Lermontoff,  wife  of  the  Minister  from 
Russia  to  Stuttgart  (on  whose  back  an  aged  gentleman  with 
a  white  beard  and  gold-rimmed  spectacles  broke  his  um- 
brella); the  Countesses  Lutke  and  Todleben,  sisters-in-law 
of  our  resident  minister  at  Darmstadt;  the  Princess  Belos- 
selsky-Belosesky,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Legation  Dmitroff 
and  Koutepoff,  and  many  others.  Several  of  these  per- 
sons as,  for  example,  Mme.  Berens,  wife  of  the  Naval  At- 
tache, the  Secretary  of  Embassy,  IonofT,  and  others  received 
light  contusions  in  their  faces,  from  stones  thrown  by  the 
crowd.  The  deacon  of  the  Russian  church,  Lopatka,  had 
his  felt  hat  entirely  broken  in  by  a  blow  from  a  cane;  the 
hat  alone  saved  him  a  severe  wound.  It  is  only  by  mere 
chance  that  these  acts  of  violence  had  not  more  serious 
eifect;  the  Chamberlain  Khrapovitsky,  however,  former 
Secretary  of  the  Embassy  from  Russia  to  Berlin,  received 
a  blow  on  the  head  which  caused  a  profuse  hemorrhage, 
required  a  dressing  on  the  train,  and  medical  care  at  Copen- 
hagen. The  crowds  spat  full  in  the  faces  of  most  of  the  ladies, 
as,  for  example,  the  Princess  Belosselsky,  Mme.  Raevsky, 
the  Countesses  Todleben,  Lutke,  and  Brevern,  etc.  The 
children  escaped  blows  only  through  the  presence  of  mind 
of  their  parents  who  placed  them  on  the  floors  of  the  auto- 
mobiles. 

The  German  authorities  were  still  less  scrupulous  in  their 
treatment  of  the  Russian  Consular  Agents.  The  Russian 
Consular  Agent  at  Breslau,  Baron  Schilling,  was  arrested  in 
his  house  on  the  2d  of  August,  between  five  and  six  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  submitted  to  a  minute  search,  and  im- 
prisonment. In  the  prison,  he  underwent  a  treatment  which, 
in  its  grossness,  differed  in  no  respect  from  the  regime  im- 
posed upon  the  criminals  confined  in  the  neighboring  cells; 
moreover,  the  directors  of  the  prison  replied  to  his  most 
modest  requests  by  refusal,  accompanied  with  insolent 
taunts.  .  .  .  From  Konigsberg,  Baron  Schilling  and  his 
family,  still  under  the  surveillance  of  a  soldier  or  an  officer, 
were  sent  to  Insterbourg,  where  they  were  searched,  during 
which  time  they  were  entirely  undressed,  even  the  children. 

The  treatment  inflicted  by  the  German  authorities  on 

372 


ATROCITIES   AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

Senator  Bellegarde,  the  Russian  General  Commissioner 
at  the  International  Exhibition  of  the  Press,  at  Leipsic, 
Master  of  the  Imperial  Court,  a  man  of  great  distinction 
and  a  high  Russian  dignitary,  exceeds  in  brutality  the  facts 
given  above.  Foreseeing  the  possibility  of  a  break  in  dip- 
lomatic relations,  Senator  Bellegarde  declared  on  the  1st 
of  August,  in  the  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Ex- 
position, that  he  intended  to  close  the  Russian  section;  but 
yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  the  committee  of  the  exposi- 
tion, he  consented  to  postpone  the  closing  to  a  later  date, 
on  condition  that  he  should  receive  a  guarantee  that  the 
objects  exposed  would  run  no  risk,  and  that  he  himself  and 
the  members  of  the  Russian  Commission  would  be  per- 
mitted to  return  to  Russia  without  obstacle.  These  con- 
ditions were  inserted  in  a  proces-verbal,  drawn  up  to  this 
effect,  which  did  not  prevent  the  fact  that  on  the  3d  of 
August,  at  three  o'clock,  Senator  Bellegarde  and  all  the 
members  of  his  commission  were  put  under  arrest  in  the 
Russian  pavilion ;  then  they  were  put  into  a  prison  for  crimi- 
nals, where  they  passed  the  night. 

According  to  authentic  information  Prince  Youssoupoff, 
Count  Soumarokoff-Elstone,  with  his  family,  arrived  in 
Berlin  the  day  of  the  declaration  of  war.  Almost  on  his 
heels  a  German  officer  presented  himself  at  the  hotel  where 
the  party  had  just  taken  rooms,  and  notified  him  that  he 
and  his  son  were  prisoners  of  war.  Hardly  had  the  officer 
left  the  room  when  Her  Highness  Princess  Irene  Alexan- 
drovna  called  by  telephone  the  Princess  Royal  of  Germany, 
her  friend  of  long  standing,  and  informed  her  of  the  arrest 
of  her  husband  and  of  his  father.  The  Princess  Royal  Ce- 
cilie  answered  that  within  an  hour  she  would  see  the  Em- 
peror personally  and  would  ask  him  to  permit  the  two 
Princes  Youssoupoff  a  free  passage  to  the  frontier. 

More  than  an  hour  of  anxious  waiting  passed  by;  at  last 
the  telephone  bell  rang.  The  endeavor  of  the  Princess  Royal 
had  failed,  for  the  reason  that  the  order  to  arrest  as  pris- 
oners of  war  Russians  traveling  in  Germany  emanated 
directly  from  the  Emperor. 

It  was  only  through  the  kindness  of  the  Ambassador 

373 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

from  Spain,  who  offered  his  automobile,  that  the  Princes 
Youssoupoff  and  their  family  were  able  to  go  to  the  station, 
where  they  were  admitted  into  the  train  of  Her  Majesty 
the  Empress  Marie  Feodorovna,  who  was  passing  at  that 
moment. 

The  Russian  visitors  were  thrust  into  railway  wagons 
devoted  to  the  transport  of  stock,  and  from  which  often 
the  manure  had  not  yet  been  cleaned  away.  These  un- 
happy people  on  their  arrival  in  a  city  were  crowded  into 
stables,  slaughter-houses  (for  example,  at  Stettin),  pigpens, 
and  in  quarantine  stations  for  animals.  They  were  driven, 
women  and  children,  old  people  and  invalids,  surrounded 
by  soldiers,  like  a  flock  of  cattle,  at  so  rapid  a  pace,  some- 
times with  arms  held  up  (as  at  Konigsberg),  that  the  women 
fell  to  the  ground  exhausted  with  fatigue. 

"We  were  utterly  exhausted  from  hunger,  and  nights 
of  sleeplessness  —  particularly  the  women  and  children," 
declares  Vice-Admiral  Tz.  It  is  also  self-evident  that  many 
were  in  no  condition  to  walk  fast  enough  to  suit  the  soldiers. 
So  they  shoved  them  on  with  blows  with  sticks,  fists,  and 
even  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  One  old  man  lagged  be- 
hind. Bang !  came  a  blow  with  a  club  in  his  back,  and  he 
fell  with  a  groan.  Many  women  suffered  nervous  collapse. 
The  children  uttered  heartrending  cries;  in  short,  it  was  a 
brutal  spectacle.  The  populace  stirred  up  the  anger  of  the 
soldiers  and  the  police  by  shouting  incessantly  to  them: 
"Thrash  them  well,  those  Russian  pigs;  teach  them  to 
walk,  those  beasts!" 

Here  is  a  scene  that  took  place:  One  gentleman,  in  the 
disorder  of  one  of  those  "perquisitions"  at  the  railroad 
station  of  Varnemunde,  took,  in  his  haste,  a  package.  On 
the  road  he  discovered  that  the  package  did  not  belong  to 
him  and  threw  it  away.  Having  noticed  the  movement, 
one  of  the  police  set  his  dog  upon  the  man,  who  jumped 
upon  the  unfortunate  and  went  for  his  throat.  Hardly  a 
moment  passed  before  man  and  dog  were  on  the  ground, 
the  dog  never  slackening  his  hold  on  his  prize.  The  man 
was  torn  to  tatters,  bitten  in  his  face,  and  soon  was  covered 
with  wounds.  When  at  last  the  police  officer  troubled  him- 

374 


ATROCITIES   AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

self  enough  to  come,  upon  hearing  his  cries,  the  man  was 
literally  torn  to  pieces. 

I  refrain  from  describing  that  which  ensued.  The  women 
became  insane,  children  threw  themselves  into  the  arms  of 
any  one  who  chanced  to  pass,  begging  for  protection.  Often 
these  poor  little  ones  appealed  in  this  way  to  the  police 
agents  themselves;  but  they  threw  them  off  as  if  they  had 
been  dogs. 

On  all  these  marches  (Allenstein,  Rostock,  etc.)  the 
women  and  children  were  pushed  into  the  railway  carriages, 
with  fisticuffs  and  blows  from  the  butts  of  guns;  often  the 
members  of  a  family  were  separated  by  force.  Many  per- 
sons lost  their  children. 

The  Russian  travelers  on  these  journeys  were  deprived 
of  nourishment  for  many  days  in  succession;  the  German 
authorities,  even,  at  times,  refused  them  drinking  water. 
A  group  of  Russians  of  about  sixty  persons  during  the  jour- 
ney of  seventy  hours  between  Allenstein,  Danzig,  and 
Stettin,  were  permitted  only  once  to  leave  the  carriage  and 
were  deprived  of  water  to  drink  during  this  entire  time. 
All  these  violences  were  accompanied  by  taunts,  intimida- 
tions, continual  threats,  which  produced  a  most  crushing 
effect  on  the  women  and  children  and  caused  fainting  spells, 
nervous  attacks,  and  so  forth. 

It  must  be  added  that  men,  between  the  ages  of  eighty 
and  fifteen  years,  were  arrested  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  not 
only  were  they  not  permitted  to  take  possession  of  their 
baggage,  but  to  their  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters,  who  were 
in  the  greatest  despair,  they  were  forbidden  to  give  neces- 
sary money  and  even  to  bid  them  good-bye.  The  larger 
pieces  of  baggage  of  all  these  unfortunates  disappeared  in 
the  different  German  railway  stations;  while  the  hand- 
baggage  of  the  Russians  was  often  thrown  out  of  the  win- 
dows of  the  train  by  railway  employees  and  by  soldiers. 
In  most  cases  the  authorities  and  the  officers  did  nothing 
but  encourage  the  brutality  of  the  soldiers  toward  the  poor 
travelers,  whom  they  maltreated  in  every  fashion  and  whom 
they  searched,  even  sometimes  obliging  them  to  undress 
completely. 

375 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

A  physician,  Mr.  Perechivkine,  assistant  doctor  of  the 
clinic  of  the  Military  Academy  of  Medicine  at  Petrograd, 
who  traveled  on  one  of  these  trains,  testifies  that  among  the 
travelers  were  found  persons  suffering  from  diseases  of  the 
kidney  and  bladder,  who  had  been  obliged  to  break  off  their 
cure  at  Wildungen.  On  the  3d  of  August,  during  the  jour- 
ney from  Allenstein  to  Marienburg,  for  fourteen  hours, 
they  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  freight  wagon  in  which 
they  had  been  locked,  men  and  women,  to  the  number  of 
more  than  forty  persons,  a  hardship  which  caused  them 
atrocious  suffering,  inevitable  under  such  circumstances  to 
invalids  of  this  category. 

"  I  saw  one  woman,"  tells  V.  Nemirovitch-Dant- 
chenko,  the  well-known  Russian  journalist,  "who,  in  a 
moment  of  flurry,  had  lost  the  milk  she  had  for  her 
baby,  kiss  the  feet  of  those  brutes  as  she  pleaded  with 
them  to  give  her  little  one  something  —  even  if  it  was 
only  water.  The  brutes  were  so  cruel  as  to  show  her 
from  afar  glasses  of  milk,  laughing  heartily  at  this 
subtle  joke.  The  baby  died  a  short  time  afterward, 
and  the  mother  became  insane.  How  would  you  de- 
pict scenes  like  that?" 

"  The  most  painful  of  all,"  Doctor  N.  S.  P.  told  us, 
"was  being  deprived  of  nourishment,  foods  of  all  kinds, 
all  sleep,  and  finally,  the  impossibility  of  satisfying 
natural  wants  for  long  periods  at  a  time.  Among  us 
there  were  many  invalids  of  both  sexes,  who  had  not 
been  able  to  complete  their  cure  which  had  been  bru- 
tally interrupted  in  Germany,  and  who  had  constant 
needs.  Their  sufferings  were  horrible  to  see.  I  remem- 
ber especially,  an  old  man  who  writhed  with  convul- 
sions. All  his  prayers  that  a  part  of  the  train  be  fenced 
off  for  him  gave  rise  merely  to  coarse  jokes  on  the  part 
of  the  soldiers  and  the  maid  (Dienstfrau) .  Finally, 
being  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  stand  his  intolerable 
sufferings  the  passengers,  aided  by  those  who  still  owned 
some  baggage,  built  of  them  a  sort  of  screen  in  a  corner 
of  the  train  which  they  made  into  an  improvised  dress- 

376 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

ing-room.  It  was  painful  to  see  the  women  and  young 
girls.  We  feigned  to  sleep,  or  tried  to  turn  away  as  well 
as  we  could,  so  as  not  to  embarrass  them  too  much. 
Such  were  the  conditions  in  which  they  held  us  in  our 
trains  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours." 

V.  Nemirovitch-Dantchenko  reports  that  a  group  of  wo- 
men, who  were  going  toward  the  frontier,  traveled  twenty- 
four  hours  without  a  break.  As  one  cannot  overcome  na- 
ture, and  as  in  the  cattle  cars  into  which  they  had  been 
herded  there  were  naturally  no  lavatories,  the  women  beg- 
ged that  they  might  be  allowed  to  leave  the  cars  for  a 
moment.  The  guards  mocked  them  coarsely.  Many  were 
ill;  there  were  women  who  fainted;  but  it  was  in  vain  that 
the  Russian  "prisoners"  appealed  to  the  Germans,  drunk 
with  cruelty,  who  had  lost  all  humane  instincts. 

The  penal  administration  treated  the  Russians  as  crimi- 
nals in  common  law,  ordering  that  the  punishment  reserved 
for  such  be  applied  to  them  in  all  its  force. 


Arrest  of  Mr.  Shebeko,  member  of  the  Imperial  Council, 
and  "visit"  of  the  women 

The  repatriation  of  a  group  of  thirty-six  Russians  — 
women  for  the  greater  part  —  from  Baden-Baden  and 
other  watering-places  in  southern  Germany  is  related  in  a 
communication  from  the  agency  at  Petrograd  dated  at 
Copenhagen,  on  the  29th  of  July. 

In  this  group  were  found  the  Countess  Worontzoff-Dach- 
koff,  wife  of  the  Vice-Regent  of  the  Caucasus,  accompanied 
by  her  daughters,  the  Countesses  Cheremetieff  and  Demi- 
doff;  Mme.  PodiedonostsefT,  the  Countess  OrlofY-Davydoff, 
the  Squire  of  the  Court,  Baron  Wolf,  and  the  Squire  Baron 
Knorring,  former  Minister  at  Darmstadt,  who  was  travel- 
ing with  his  family. 

As  far  as  Frankfurt,  the  journey  was  carried  out  nor- 
mally. Between  Frankfurt  and  Hamburg,  when  the  train 
was  full  to  overflowing  of  civilians  and  of  soldiers,  the  Rus- 
sians were  arrested  by  the  military  authorities.    All  were 

377 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

obliged  to  alight  with  their  baggage,  three  stations  before 
reaching  Hamburg. 

It  was  only  upon  the  insistence  of  Baron  Knorring  that 
they  were  allowed  to  continue  their  journey  to  the  principal 
station  at  Hamburg.  There  under  military  escort  they 
were  all  brought  before  the  station  guard,  where  their  pass- 
ports were  verified  and  their  baggage  examined;  after  this 
they  were  directed  to  the  Atlantic  Hotel,  where,  in  conse- 
quence of  lack  of  trains,  they  were  obliged  to  remain  until 
Friday  evening.  At  Hamburg,  Shebeko,  member  of  the 
Council  of  the  Empire,  joined  the  company.  As  far  as  Neu- 
minster  the  journey  was  again  carried  out  without  incident; 
but  at  this  station  Mr.  Shebeko  was  arrested  on  a  telegram 
from  Berlin,  and  was  forcibly  removed  from  the  train.  This 
incident  caused  the  greatest  excitement  among  the  Rus- 
sians, which  marked  them  to  the  public,  who  had  invaded 
the  station,  and  who  behaved  in  an  insane  manner;  the  most 
ferocious  among  them  appeared  to  be  nurses  and  Sisters 
of  Charity.  The  Countess  WorontzofT-Dachkoff  was  sub- 
jected to  serious  outrage;  she  had  gone  into  the  compart- 
ment next  door  to  her  own  to  announce  the  arrest  of  Mr. 
Shebeko  when  the  crowd  began  to  cry,  "That  woman  is 
trying  to  conceal  something,"  and  demanded  that  she  be 
searched. 

Thereupon  some  drunken  soldiers  of  the  Landwehr,  with 
cigars  in  their  mouths,  climbed  into  the  carriage,  drove  the 
Countess  out  of  it  by  the  butts  of  their  guns,  and  began  to 
search  her  upon  the  platform  in  the  grossest  manner,  pulling 
her  by  her  hair  and  by  her  garments.  The  crowd,  seized  by 
a  wild  dementia,  howled  and  stamped  their  feet,  preventing 
the  train  from  leaving;  laborious  interviews  were  required 
to  set  things  in  motion  again.  Baron  Knorring,  however, 
having  shown  the  passport  and  ticket  of  Mr.  Shebeko  to 
the  station-master,  the  latter  replied  that  even  without 
those  documents  the  Russians  would  meet  with  too  few 
difficulties,  and  that  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  further 
inconvenience  their  journey. 

As  to  Mr.  Shebeko,  he  began  by  remaining  several  hours 
at  the  station  at  Neuminster  under  the  guard  of  soldiers 

378 


ATROCITIES   AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

with  bared  bayonets,  surrounded  by  a  maddened  mob 
which  incessantly  shouted,  "Shoot  him!"  After  these  long 
and  difficult  hours  of  waiting,  Mr.  Shebeko  was  sent  to  a 
prison  for  common  criminals;  on  his  arrival  his  money  and 
all  objects  of  value  in  his  possession  were  taken  from  him, 
and  he  was  confined  in  an  isolated  cell.  There  he  remained 
twenty-four  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was  set  at 
liberty  and  even  obtained,  on  his  request,  a  bodyguard  of 
soldiers  to  accompany  him  as  far  as  the  Danish  frontier. 
We  cannot  too  much  insist  upon  the  fact  that  in  arresting 
the  Councillor  of  the  Empire,  Mr.  Shebeko,  or  in  "  visiting  " 
in  an  outrageous  manner  the  wife  of  the  Viceroy  of  the 
Caucasus,  the  Countess  Worontzoff-Dachkoff ,  the  Germans 
knew  perfectly  well  with  whom  they  were  dealing,  and  were 
quite  certain  to  find  in  the  possession  of  these  high  person- 
ages no  document  of  interest  to  them. 

When  one  hears  of  all  the  sufferings  undergone  by  the 
unfortunate  Russian  travelers  in  Germany,  one  is  not  as- 
tonished at  the  communication  of  the  Telegraph  Agency 
at  Petrograd  of  August  8,  according  to  which  "the  Swedish 
hospitals  were  filled  with  Russians,  wounded,  suffering 
from  contusions,  or  ill  as  a  result  of  the  horrible  treatment 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  Germany."  Added  to  the  physical 
sufferings  were  also  the  moral  sufferings  due  to  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  fate  which  might  befall  the  Russians  at  any 
minute,  or  worry  as  to  the  lot  of  dear  ones  from  whom 
they  had  been  separated  in  the  course  of  their  journey. 

Even  persons  seriously  ill  were  submitted  to  the  same 
cruel  treatment.  Thus,  Mme.  Tougan-Baranovski,  wife 
of  the  Director  of  the  Chancellery  of  the  Minister  of  the 
Lines  of  Communication,  who  had  just  undergone  a  very 
serious  operation,  was  attacked  at  Breslau  by  the  crowd, 
who  tore  the  dressings  from  her  head.  She  was  then  put  in 
prison.  At  the  end  of  three  days  she  was  obliged  to  walk 
the  whole  length  of  the  city,  with  a  great  number  of  her 
compatriots,  to  the  station  of  Oderbanhof,  where  they  were 
packed  into  coal  cars,  still  full  of  detritus.  On  the  5th  of 
August,  all  these  unfortunates  were  abandoned  to  their 
fate,  not  far  from  Verouchoff  on  the  Russian  frontier,  which 

579 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

they  were  obliged  to  reach  on  foot.  On  the  13th  of  August 
Mme.  Tougan-Baranovski  died  at  Petrograd,  where  she  had 
been  taken  in  a  desperate  condition. 

As  we  have  already  said,  all  the  facts  related  above  have 
been  carefully  verified  and  certified,  either  by  the  com- 
plainants themselves,  or  by  eye-witnesses  of  all  these  atroci- 
ties. Besides  the  names  already  cited,  we  will  mention 
among  others  the  following  persons:  Senator  Count  Pahlen; 
Mr.  IvanofT,  Senator  and  President  of  the  Municipal  Coun- 
cil at  Petrograd;  Prince  Ouroussoff,  editor-in-chief  of  the 
"Journal  Officiel";  M.  Sventitsky,  member  of  the  Duma 
of  the  Empire;  M.  Schwartz,  Chamberlain  and  Marshal  of 
the  Nobility  of  the  district  of  Novaia  Ladoga;  Prince  P.  A. 
Ouroussoff  and  his  wife;  Baron  L.  Knorring,  Squire  of  the 
Court;  M.  Hirschmann,  engineer;  Lieutenant-General  von 
Beck ;  Councillor  of  the  State,  Kalatcheff ;  Princess  Oukhtom- 
sky,  Maid  of  Honor  to  Her  Majesty  the  Empress;  Coun- 
cillor of  State  Khovansky;  the  gentleman  of  the  Chamber 
of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  Pistolkors,  and  his  wife; 
Count  and  Countess  Kankrine;  Mme.  Demidoff;  Princess 
San  Donato;  Countess  Orloff-Davidoff;  Mr.  Pleske,  and 
many  others. 

When  the  first  Russian  travelers  who  had  returned  from 
Germany  recounted  the  atrocities  which  they  had  suffered, 
their  stories  seemed  so  fantastic  that  Russian  opinion  could 
not  at  first  consent  to  believe  them.  We  were  accustomed 
to  look  upon  the  Germans  as  a  civilized  nation  and  it  seemed 
to  us  impossible  that  this  entire  people  should  have  fallen 
morally  so  low  that  it  presented  the  appearance  of  a  horde 
of  indigenous  brutes,  assassins,  and  plunderers. 

"I  cannot  explain,"  said  to  us  Mr.  N.  S.  P — kin,  a  doctor 
of  medicine,  "this  sudden  change  in  the  character  of  the 
German  people.  I  made  my  studies  in  Germany,  I  lived  a 
long  time  in  that  country,  and  I  was  profoundly  convinced 
that  the  Germans  were  a  people  of  high  civilization." 

This  belief  was  shared  by  the  larger  part  of  Russian 
opinion,  unfortunately;  it  was  therefore  to  us  a  particu- 
larly rude  and  unexpected  blow  dealt  by  this  explosion  of 

380 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

stupid  rage  and  systematic  cruelty  which,  at  the  first  word 
of  war,  shook  the  entire  Empire  of  Germany  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  at  the  command,  so  to  speak,  of  her  Emperor, 
whose  hand  clearly  appears  in  the  beginning  of  what  his- 
tory has  already  qualified  by  an  ineffaceable  word:  "The 
German  infamy." 

Experiences  of  invalids  in  German  and  Austrian  health  resorts 

In  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  "  Vetcherneie  Vremya"  of 
the  4th  of  August,  the  wife  of  the  engineer  T.  Tz.  writes:  — 

On  the  day  of  the  declaration  of  war,  all  my  com- 
patriots who  were  in  the  establishment  were  despoiled 
of  all  they  possessed  by  the  directors  themselves.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  hour  when  the  Russian  invalids 
had  gone  out  to  take  their  air  baths,  Dr.  Lipeld-Kota, 
with  his  employees,  entered  the  bedrooms  and  there 
indulged  in  a  regular  appropriation  of  goods.  Money, 
watches,  rings,  jewels,  everything  that  had  been  left 
there,  was  seized,  and  when  the  invalids  returned,  the 
doctor  had  them  ejected  from  the  establishment  with 
the  aid  of  the  servants.  Many  were  without  a  sou  and 
were  only  able  to  leave  Friedrichrod  thanks  to  the  assis- 
tance of  those  of  their  compatriots  who  more  providently 
had  carried  their  money  with  them.  They  were  obliged 
to  depart  dressed  as  they  were,  for  the  doctor  even 
refused  to  restore  any  clothing. 

Mr.  S.  V.  Tchelnokoff,  member  of  the  Municipality  of 
Moscow,  declares  that  at  Carlsbad  the  sending  of  letters 
through  the  mail  was  broken  off  on  the  14th  of  July.  Cer- 
tain letters  were  purely  and  simply  intercepted;  others  were 
returned  to  the  senders,  inscribed,  "Not  subject  to  trans- 
mission." 

The  delivery  of  the  sums  called  for  by  postal  money  or- 
ders coming  from  Russia,  to  those  for  whom  they  were  in- 
tended, was  suspended,  in  Austria  as  well  as  in  Germany, 
several  days  before  the  declaration  of  war. 

Mme.  E.  I.  Godlevska  reports  that  during  the  seven  days 

381 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

which  preceded  Austria's  declaration  of  war  upon  Serbia, 
being  at  Carlsbad,  she  received  none  of  the  postal  and  tele- 
graphic money  orders  which  had  been  sent  her  from  Russia, 
so  that  when  the  police  decided  upon  the  expulsion  of  the 
Russians  who  were  in  the  city,  she  was  absolutely  without 
money.  It  was  only  thanks  to  the  friendliness  of  her  com- 
panions in  misfortune  that,  sick  and  exhausted,  she  was 
able  to  find  her  way  back  to  Petrograd. 

Regions  devastated  at  the  retirement  of  the  Germans 

Here  is  the  report  of  the  Governor  of  Kholm  (Chelm) 
to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  on  the  state  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Tomachoff  after  its  evacuation  by  the  Aus- 
trian hordes :  — 

In  the  Commune  Krinitzka,  out  of  fourteen  villages, 
eleven  suffered  by  fire  and  pillage.  In  this  commune,  sixty- 
five  houses  were  burned,  thirty -five  in  the  village  of  Maidan- 
Krinitz,  and  eighteen  in  the  village  of  Maidan-Seletz.  In 
this  last  village  twelve  persons  were  burned  alive  by  the 
Austrians;  the  victims  had  sheltered  themselves  from  shells 
by  hiding  in  a  hole  dug  in  the  earth  for  this  special  purpose. 
The  Austrians  threw  burning  straw  into  this  hole,  and 
standing  all  about  it  in  a  circle,  they  prevented  all  from 
coming  out  by  driving  them  back  at  the  point  of  the  bayo- 
net. 

In  the  village  of  Maidan-Krinitz,  four  persons,  two  of 
them  children,  were  shot.  Besides,  in  the  course  of  a  fusil- 
lade, five  persons  were  killed  and  six  wounded;  and  finally, 
fourteen  were  taken  away  as  hostages  and  their  ultimate 
fate  has  not  been  established. 

In  the  commune  Tarnovatka,  out  of  twelve  villages,  ten 
were  devastated.  In  the  entire  commune,  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  inhabitants  were  carried  away  by  the  enemy; 
among  them  was  the  secretary  of  the  commune;  of  these 
unfortunates  nine  came  back  to  their  villages  and  six  were 
killed.  The  Catholics  who  had  been  made  prisoners  were 
set  at  liberty  at  Tomachoff;  the  Orthodox  were  retained; 

382 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

what  became  of  them  is  not  known.  According  to  the  testi- 
mony of  those  who  returned,  the  prisoners  were  very  ill- 
treated  by  the  enemy.  In  the  villages  of  Gouta  and  of 
Veprie  Ozero  the  Austrians  violated  women.  In  the  village 
of  Soumine,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  cure  of  the 
parish  of  Tarnovatka,  a  woman  who  resisted  was  killed  and 
the  ears  and  the  breasts  were  cut  from  the  corpse.  In  the 
village  of  Tarnovatka,  thirty-three  houses  were  burned, 
but  there  the  fire  seems  to  have  been  set  by  the  artillery 
firing.  In  other  villages  of  the  same  commune  cases  of  the 
voluntary  burning  of  houses  have  been  established.  The 
portrait  of  the  Emperor  was  destroyed  and  all  the  archives 
have  disappeared;  the  lodgings  of  the  priests  and  of  the 
schoolmaster  were  plundered. 

In  the  commune  Yarchovska  the  large  village  of  Ioroff 
on  the  frontier,  reputed  for  its  opulence,  was  entirely  burned. 
The  church  and  the  school  alone  escaped,  because  behind 
these  buildings  the  fire  had  raged  with  such  violence  that 
the  trees  which  surrounded  the  church  were  consumed. 
Here,  as  at  Maidan-Seletz,  the  inhabitants  took  refuge 
during  the  battle  in  holes  and  in  cellars,  and  they  also  were 
victims  of  the  savagery  of  the  enemy.  Forty-eight  inhabi- 
tants perished,  and  three,  including  a  boy  eight  years  old, 
were  wounded;  five  were  taken  away  as  hostages. 

The  peasants  are  unanimous  in  testifying  that  the  vil- 
lage was  voluntarily  burned  by  the  Austrian  soldiers  after 
the  battle  had  ended. 

The  pretext  of  this  measure,  as  well  as  of  other  atrocities 
committed  by  the  Austrians,  was  the  accusation  against 
the  populace  of  having  fired  on  the  Austrian  troops,  while 
in  reality  it  was  the  Austrian  soldiers  themselves  who  pur- 
posely fired  provocative  shots. 

In  the  village  of  Verechtchzi,  out  of  seventy-six  houses, 
fifty-four  were  burned,  and  six  heavily  damaged  by  fires 
voluntarily  lighted  by  the  Austrians.  The  conditions  were 
exactly  the  same  as  at  Ioroff;  the  fire  was  lighted  after  the 
battle  on  the  lying  pretext  that  shots  had  been  fired  on  the 
Austrian  soldiers  from  the  peasants'  cabins.  The  soldiers 
lighted  the  fire  in  almost  every  cottage,  carefully,  with 

383 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

matches,  and  also  by  gunshots,  and  in  this  latter  case  they 
used  special  cartridges  containing,  instead  of  powder,  a 
stuffing  of  material  easily  inflammable.  Cartridges  of  this 
kind  have  been  found  among  the  munitions  taken  from  the 
enemy  or  abandoned  by  him.  They  differ  from  ordinary 
cartridges  by  their  lightness  and  by  the  black  or  red  head 
of  the  stuffing. 

German  atrocities  —  a  Russian  indictment 

I  make  some  extracts  from  official  reports  of  the 
Extraordinary  Commission  appointed  on  the  initia- 
tive of  the  Russian  State  Duma  to  investigate 
"breaches  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  war  committed 
by  the  Austro-Hungarian  and  German  troops":  — 

They  [the  prisoners]  are  harnessed  to  the  plough  together 
with  oxen  and  put  into  the  shafts  of  heavy  carts  or  wagons 
to  drag  enormous  loads.  They  are  punished  in  the  roughest 
and  harshest  manner  possible  for  the  slightest  disobedience, 
or  for  not  doing  the  proper  thing,  and  this  often  happens 
simply  through  ignorance  of  the  German  language.  They 
are  put  on  bread  and  water,  forced  to  run  until  exhausted, 
hung  up,  or  lashed  by  arms  and  legs  to  a  post  for  a  couple 
of  hours.  This  has  often  resulted  in  putting  arms  and  legs 
out  of  joint,  and  in  one  known  case,  the  victim,  when  re- 
leased, fell  down  insensible  and  did  not  recover  for  three 
hours.  Prisoners  have  also  been  compelled  to  kneel  on 
sharp  pieces  of  broken  brick.  Besides  this  kind  of  punish- 
ment, they  have  had  to  submit  to  insult  and  mockery  from 
the  enemy,  and  have  been  made  sport  of  by  both  Germans 
and  Austrians.  They  have  been  beaten,  worried  by  dogs, 
and  kept  half  starved,  whilst  being  compelled  to  look  on 
at  their  captors  enjoying  excellent  meals. 

A  reserve  man  of  the  first  category,  named  Shimchak, 
who  was  interned  in  one  of  the  camps  for  prisoners,  was  an 
eye-witness  of  the  torturing  of  four  Cossacks  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  The  Germans  took  the  first  Cossack,  placed  his 
left  hand  on  a  not  very  high  post,  and  with  a  sword  bayonet 

384 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

chopped  off  half  of  his  middle  finger,  half  of  his  thumb,  and 
then  half  of  his  little  finger.  These  severed  finger  pieces 
the  Germans  thrust  into  the  pocket  of  the  mutilated  Cos- 
sack, and  led  him  away;  the  second  Cossack  had  his  ears 
pierced,  the  third  his  nose  cut  off,  and  the  fourth  Cossackt 
seeing  the  sufferings  of  his  comrades,  snatched  a  bayonet 
from  one  of  the  Germans  and  struck  him  with  it.  This  Cos- 
sack was  at  once  bayoneted  by  all  the  German  soldiers  on 
the  spot. 

For  three  days  in  succession  German  officers  tormented 
an  under-officer  of  Cossacks  named  Zinoviev  by  applying 
electricity  to  his  legs  in  order  to  compel  him  to  give  informa- 
tion, and  on  the  fourth  day  one  of  the  German  officers 
burnt  the  soles  of  Zinoviev's  feet  with  a  red-hot  iron. 

A  soldier  named  Yasinsky  saw  the  dead  body  of  a  Cos- 
sack with  eyes  put  out,  half  of  the  tongue  cut  off,  the  fingers 
dislocated,  and  strips  of  skin  torn  from  the  chest  and  back. 

"In  addition,"  the  reports  adds,  the  Germans  have  "con- 
tracted the  habit  of  burning  prisoners."  Eighteen  cases  of 
the  kind  have  been  under  inquiry,  and  two  where,  in  the 
one  instance  in  February,  1915,  in  Novi  Dvor,  and  in  the 
other  in  September,  1914,  at  Opadkovits,  "  Russian  wounded 
soldiers  were  shut  up  and  burnt  to  death,"  have  already 
been  authenticated. 

Near  the  town  of  Prasnish,  some  German  troopers  ar- 
rested a  native  from  the  village  of  Smoshevo,  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Plotsk,  named  Joseph  Franz  Maximilianov  Fliash- 
chinsky,  sixty  three  years  of  age,  and  because  he  refused 
to  act  the  spy  for  their  benefit  they  tortured  him  by  first 
binding  his  arms  to  a  plank.  He  was  then  thrown  face  down- 
ward, the  plank  to  which  his  arms  were  attached  was  fas- 
tened to  the  ground  with  wooden  pegs,  and  his  legs  were 
tied  together.  In  this  position  the  Germans  covered  him 
with  boughs  and  pine-tree  fronds,  which  they  set  fire  to, 
and  then  they  went  away.  Fliashchinsky,  however,  man- 
aged to  release  himself  and  get  up,  thanks  to  the  accidental 
burning  through  of  the  rope. 

At  the  end  of  last  December,  near  a  village  in  East  Prus- 
sia, one  of  our  troopers,  through  want  of  caution,  was  taken 

385 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

prisoner,  while  foraging,  by  a  party  of  eight  Germans,  who 
stripped  him  naked,  drove  him  to  the  wood  pile  which  they 
had  just  set  alight,  and  began  to  roast  him  over  the  fire. 
They  surrounded  him  and  the  burning  fagots,  and  with 
their  rifles  they  kept  him  on  the  spot  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  Neither  his  cries  for  mercy  nor  the  harrowing 
spectacle  of  a  human  creature  being  burned  alive  had  any 
effect  in  softening  the  feelings  of  his  executioners. 

The  Germans  in  Czenstochow 

The  "Pensee  de  Varsovie"  reports  the  story  of  the  prior 
of  the  monastery  of  Czenstochow  to  the  Metropolitan  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Churches,  Klioutchinski,  about  the 
excesses  committed  by  the  Germans  in  the  monastery :  — 

At  the  time  of  their  entry  at  Czenstochow,  the 
Germans  called  upon  the  prior  and  demanded  money. 
Having  received  a  refusal,  they  spoiled  the  ikon  of  the 
Virgin  of  its  golden  nimbus  encrusted  with  diamonds, 
the  present  of  a  Roman  pope  to  the  monastery,  and 
they  carried  away  the  precious  cross  presented  in  olden 
times  by  Sigismond. 

On  the  next  day  the  terrible  news  spread  through 
the  Polish  populace  of  Czenstochow  that  the  Ger- 
man soldiers  had  indulged  in  a  scandalous  orgy  during 
the  night  in  the  monastery  of  Iasnogor.  At  nightfall, 
therefore,  a  patrol  of  German  cavalry,  five  in  num- 
ber, passing  near  the  monastery  received  the  fire  of  a 
group  of  Polish  "partisans."  Three  German  soldiers 
were  killed.  When  at  the  sound  of  firing  a  detach- 
ment of  German  cavalry  came  to  the  rescue,  the  Polish 
"partisans"  had  secured  their  flight.  Furiously  the 
Germans  then  began  to  fire  in  every  direction  in  the 
streets  of  the  city. 

Among  the  riches  perserved  in  the  monastery  of 
Czenstochow,  there  were  thousands  of  pounds  of  silver 
and  of  gold,  the  offerings  of  pilgrims;  a  great  quantity 
of  pearls,  of  diamonds  and  of  precious  stones  adorned 
the   frame  and  the  nimbus  of  the  celebrated   ikon. 

386 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

Among  these  stones  there  were  some  of  great  rarity 
and  of  inestimable  value;  notably  a  pearl  presented 
by  the  Chancellor  Prince  Lioubomirski,  which  he  had 
received  from  the  Turkish  Ambassador;  a  giant  ruby 
taken  from  the  handle  of  a  yatagan,  taken  by  King 
John  Sobiesky  before  Vienna;  an  emerald  weighing 
more  than  three  hundred  karats,  presented  by  an 
unknown  person,  who  in  1812  had  laid  it  in  the  contri- 
bution box. 

Now  all  these  treasures  have  been  stolen  by  the 
Germans.  Emperor  William  is  well  aware  that  the 
Monastery  of  Iasnogor  is  a  center  of  pilgrimages  for 
the  Poles. 

The  orgy  mentioned  in  the  monastery  of  Iasnogor,  was 
related  in  a  specially  poignant  manner  by  Mile.  Helene  S., 
a  young  girl  of  nineteen  who  succeeded  in  escaping  from 
Czenstochow,  and  had  just  arrived  at  Petrograd.  This  is 
her  story :  — 

Scarcely  had  the  Germans  crossed  the  frontier  when 
reports  of  incredible  atrocities  began  to  come  to  us. 
Peasants  who  had  been  robbed,  pillaged,  and  ruined, 
fled  to  the  city,  coming  from  every  direction  in  mad 
flight,  while  from  mouth  to  mouth  circulated  stories 
horrible  enough  to  raise  the  hair  upon  our  heads.  Mean- 
time, however,  we  remained  absolutely  calm,  per- 
suaded that  because  of  its  ancient  relics  our  city  had 
nothing  to  fear. 

The  first  German  detachments  entered  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  encamped  near  the  mon- 
astery; but  not  a  man  stepped  inside  the  monastery. 
Meanwhile  the  officers  were  circulating  in  the  streets, 
marking  with  chalk  on  each  door  the  number  of  sol- 
diers to  be  lodged  there.  In  the  street  the  conduct  of 
the  men  became  revolting;  they  caught  and  embraced 
the  women  and  under  the  pretense  of  searching  them, 
indulged  in  the  grossest  familiarities. 

The  populace,  however,  bore  everything  in  absolute 
silence  and  with  perfect  self-possession,  since  we  were 

387 


OBSTACLES   TO  PEACE 

still  convinced  that  the  holy  places  would  not  be  pro- 
faned. We  were  firmly  resolved  to  bear  courageously 
every  violence  and  every  vexation  if  only  our  monas- 
tery might  be  saved! 

At  two  in  the  afternoon  the  Germans  demanded 
that  the  doors  of  the  monastery  should  be  opened  to 
them,  which  was  immediately  done,  and  the  com- 
mander surrounded  by  his  officers  and  escorted  by  a 
little  group  of  soldiers,  disappeared  within  it.  The  day 
was  relatively  calm.  Towards  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  a  few  officers,  accompanied  by  soldiers,  visited 
the  houses  in  search  of  women,  under  the  pretext  that 
they  were  required  for  different  tasks  and  for  the  in- 
stallation of  bedchambers  to  be  carried  out  in  the 
interior  of  the  monastery.  They  evidently  selected 
the  youngest  and  the  prettiest.  Having  no  suspicion 
of  the  infamous  project  of  the  Germans,  no  one  made 
the  least  resistance.  There  were  even  young  girls  of 
the  best  houses,  who  expressed  a  desire  to  go  and  work 
in  the  venerated  monastery! 

I  was  among  those  whom  the  Germans  appointed  to 
serve.  We  were  divided  into  groups  of  ten.  The  first 
group,  in  which  was  my  mother,  was  sent  immediately 
to  the  monastery;  the  second  followed  about  two  hours 
later,  and  towards  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  it  was 
the  turn  of  the  third  group  of  which  I  was  a  member. 
When  we  came  into  the  monastery,  the  first  thing  that 
surprised  us  was  to  hear  the  sounds  of  a  military  band, 
which  came  to  us  distinctly,  but  we  were  certainly  still 
far  from  guessing  the  truth ! 

We  were  led  into  quite  a  spacious  cell,  and  com- 
manded to  wait. 

Two  soldiers  began  to  importune  us,  and  they  inter- 
rupted us  in  a  menacing  fashion  when  we  began  to  talk 
together  in  Polish.  At  the  end  of  half  an  hour  soldiers 
came  in  rolling  into  the  cell  a  cask  of  wine,  and  bringing 
glasses.  At  the  same  time  an  officer  came  in  and  with 
difficulty  said  to  us  in  Polish:  "A  heavy  labor  is  before 
you;  you  must  take  indispensable  strength  for  it."  Say- 

388 


ATROCITIES  AGAINST  THE  RUSSIANS 

ing  these  words  he  began  to  laugh  and  rudely  pinched 
one  of  my  companions.  In  the  mean  time  the  soldiers 
had  filled  the  glasses  with  wine.  We  were  forced  to 
drink  it. 

When  I  refused  to  drink  the  wine  offered  me,  at  a 
sign  from  the  officer  two  soldiers  seized  me  by  my  arms 
and  held  my  head  backwards  while  a  third  poured  the 
wine  down  my  throat.  The  Germans  had  certainly 
mixed  some  drug  with  the  wine,  for  all  of  us  as  soon  as 
we  had  drunk  were  seized  with  vertigo.  Then  they  forced 
us  to  leave  the  cell,  either  one  at  a  time  or  in  groups  of 
two.  When  my  turn  came,  I  tried  to  resist;  but  the 
soldiers  picked  me  up  under  my  arms  and  carried  me 
across  the  corridor.  ...  I  then  lost  consciousness. 

When  I  came  home  on  the  next  morning,  I  found 
my  mother  in  her  bed,  without  consciousness;  she  was 
in  a  prolonged  swoon.  I  endeavored  to  bring  her  to 
herself  again,  but  every  time  she  fell  back  in  a  faint.  .  .  . 

She  had  undergone  the  same  violence  as  I.  ...  I 
decided  to  leave  home  to  come  here  to  my  sister's 
house,  for  after  what  had  happened,  my  mother  and  I 
could  no  longer  look  each  other  in  the  face. 

The  Polish  population,  the  immense  majority  of  which 
is  profoundly  religious,  was  thunderstruck  to  learn  how  the 
Germans  had  behaved  towards  the  miraculous  ikon  of  the 
Virgin,  the  object  of  all  the  Catholic  pilgrimages,  and 
throughout  the  city  there  was  a  state  of  unspeakable  moral 
depression.  Certain  ones  proposed  to  carry  out  a  general 
mourning.  The  women  immediately  adopted  this  idea; 
that  very  evening  they  were  all  clothed  in  black. 

The  Germans  themselves,  told  everywhere,  how  "joy- 
ously they  had  passed  the  night"  at  the  monastery.  It  is 
related  also  in  the  city,  that  at  the  end  of  the  orgy  in  the 
monastery,  the  Germans,  after  having  done  violence  to  the 
women,  had  also  offered  the  basest  insults  to  the  members 
of  the  clergy  who  were  among  the  hostages  and  of  whom 
was  the  prior  of  the  monastery  of  Iasnogor. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA:  THE  TURKISH  METH- 
ODS OF   SPOLIATION,  DEPORTATION  AND  MASSACRE 

In  this  terrible  war,  like  no  other  in  its  horrors  and 
destructions,  there  is  one  tragedy  which  stands  alone; 
that  is,  the  robbery,  deportation,  and  massacre  of  the 
Armenians.  A  million  and  a  half  people,  from  helpless 
infancy  to  helpless  old  age,  have  been  robbed  and  tor- 
tured, deprived  of  home  and  estate,  and  half  of  them 
have  died  under  circumstances  of  appalling  atrocity 
and  cruelty. 

With  the  success  of  the  Young  Turks  in  1908,  a  new 
idea  came  to  the  predatory  minority  that  rule  and  rob 
Turkey.  It  was  "Turkey  for  the  Turks."  It  was  not 
the  result  of  religious  fanaticism,  although  it  brought 
into  play  the  fanatical  passions  of  the  masses  of 
Mohammedans,  but  on  the  part  of  the  Government  it 
was  largely  for  spoliation  and  power. 

I  asked  Talaat  Bey,  March  10,  1916,  how  many 
Armenians  had  been  expelled  at  that  time.  He  said 
about  eight  hundred  thousand.  His  estimate  was  too 
low.  I  talked  with  former  Turkish  officials,  some  of 
whom  had  resigned  rather  than  carry  out  the  orders 
against  the  Armenians.  What  I  learned  from  these 
officials  simply  proved  the  accuracy  of  the  innumerable 
reports  from  Europeans,  including  consuls,  merchants, 
traders,  agents  of  large  concerns,  missionaries,  and 
travelers.  It  is  as  impossible  to  conceal  happenings  in 
Asia  Minor  as  it  would  be  in  New  York  State. 

390 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

We  are  to  conceive  a  territory  nearly  one  fifth  as 
large  as  the  United  States.  In  this  territory,  mingling 
with  the  other  races,  Greeks,  Turks,  etc.,  are  the 
Armenian  people.  The  Armenians  are  energetic  and 
intelligent,  with  a  long  history,  a  considerable  litera- 
ture, and  a  highly  developed  national  consciousness. 
Generally  they  are  prosperous.  Many  are  people  of 
wealth  and  refinement  —  all  suffered  alike. 

The  Armenian  nation  existed  many  hundred  years 
before  the  invasion  of  the  Turks.  The  policy  of  the 
invading  Turks  was  not  to  destroy  or  remove  the 
peoples  of  the  nations  they  invaded,  but  to  exploit 
them,  for  the  Turkish  Government  is  simply  a  criminal 
organization  to  rob. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  visualize  the  new  Turkish 
methods.  While  I  can  find  no  parallel  in  history  to  the 
fate  of  the  Armenians,  —  and  at  this  moment  they  are 
in  the  midst  of  their  crucifixion,  —  I  learned  of  an 
incident  in  Constantinople  somewhat  similar.  Some 
years  ago  the  authorities  of  Constantinople  decided  to 
get  rid  of  the  vast  number  of  dogs  that  occupied  every 
street.  Instead  of  killing  them  outright  they  removed 
the  dogs  to  an  island  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  not  far 
from  the  city,  where  there  was  neither  food  nor  water. 
All  the  dogs  perished  miserably.  An  American  in 
Constantinople  showed  me  a  photograph  of  the  last 
dog,  standing  on  a  rock,  looking  toward  Constanti- 
nople. 

Here  is  the  story  of  eighteen  thousand  exiles  who  all 
perished,  excepting  one  hundred  and  eighty-five,  and 
excepting  some  of  the  girls  who  had  suffered  a  fate 
worse  than  death. 


391 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Story  of  Eighteen  Thousand  Exiles  in  One 

Caravan  x 

On  the  1st  day  of  June  three  thousand  people,  mostly 
women,  girls,  and  children,  left  Harput,  accompanied 
by  seventy  policemen. 

The  third  day  the  caravan  of  exiles  reached  Tootlykeuy. 
There  the  Arabs  and  Kurds  began  to  steal  the  women  and 
girls  till  they  reached  the  first  railway  station  of  Rasulain 
on  the  Bagdad  line. 

On  the  fifteenth  day  they  were  again  treading  their  way 
through  the  steep  mountains,  where  the  Kurds  gathered 
one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  men,  aged  from  fifteen  to 
ninety,  and  taking  them  to  some  distance  butchered  them 
and  came  back  and  began  to  rob  the  people. 

That  day  another  caravan  of  exiles,  only  three  hundred  of 
whom  were  men,  from  Sivas,  Egin,  Tokat,  joined  that  from 
Harput,  thus  making  a  bigger  caravan,  eighteen  thousand  all 
counted  (almost  all  women,  girls,  and  children).  They 
started  on  the  seventeenth  day  under  the  protection  of 
another  Kurd  bey.  This  bey  called  out  his  people,  who 
attacked  the  caravan  and  robbed  them. 

The  twenty-fifth  day  they  reached  the  village  of  Geulik, 
all  the  inhabitants  of  which  went  a  long  way  with  the 
caravan,  tormenting  and  robbing  them.  The  thirty-second 
day  they  were  at  the  village  of  Kekhteh.  Here  they  remained 
two  days,  and  again  many  girls  and  women  were  stolen. 

On  the  fortieth  day  the  caravan  saw  the  river  Mourad,  a 
branch  of  the  Euphrates. 

The  chief  of  the  village  near  by  tolled  one  lira  (five  dol- 
lars) from  each  man  as  a  ransom  for  not  being  thrown  into 
the  river. 

On  the  fifty-second  day  they  arrived  at  another  village. 
Here  the  Kurds  took  from  them  everything  they  had,  even 
their  shirts  and  drawers,  and  for  five  days  the  whole  caravan 

1  It  has  been  necessary  to  suppress  the  names  of  writers  for  the  purpose 
of  protecting  them. 

392 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

walked  all  naked  under  the  scorching  sun.  For  another  five 
days  they  did  not  have  a  morsel  of  bread,  neither  a  drop  of 
water.   They  were  scorched  to  death  by  thirst. 

Hundreds  on  hundreds  fell  dead  on  the  way,  their  tongues 
were  turned  to  charcoal,  and  when  at  the  end  of  the  fiftieth 
day  they  reached  a  fountain  the  whole  caravan  naturally 
rushed  to  it,  but  the  policemen  stood  in  front  of  them  and 
forbade  them  to  take  even  a  drop  of  water,  for  they  wanted 
to  sell  the  water  from  one  to  three  lire  (five  dollars  to  fifteen 
dollars)  the  cup,  and  sometimes  even  not  giving  the  water 
after  getting  the  money. 

When  they  came  near  an  Arab  village  in  that  naked  state, 
the  Arabs  pitied  them  and  gave  them  old  pieces  of  clothes 
to  be  covered  with.  Some  of  the  exiles  who  had  money  left 
bought  some  clothes.  But  there  were  still  some  left  who  came 
in  that  naked  state  up  to  the  city  of  Haleb.  The  poor  women 
could  not  walk  for  shame;  they  walked  all  bent  forward. 

In  this  naked  state  they  had  found  some  ways  to  keep  the 
little  money  they  had.  Some  kept  it  in  their  hair,  some  in 
their  mouths.  And  when  the  robbers  attacked  them  some 
were  clever  enough  to  search  for  money  in  those  secret 
places,  and  that  in  a  very  beastly  manner,  of  course. 

On  the  sixtieth  day,  when  we  reached  the  Viran  Shehir, 
only  three  hundred  had  remained  from  the  eighteen  thou- 
sand exiles.  On  the  sixty-fourth  day  they  gathered  all  the 
men  and  the  sick  women  and  children  and  burned  and  killed 
them  all.  Those  remaining  were  ordered  to  continue  their 
way. 

On  the  seventieth  day,  when  they  reached  Haalep, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-five  women  and  children  were 
remaining  from  the  whole  caravan  of  eighteen  thou- 
sand. 

The  above  is  a  typical  story  of  the  experiences  of 
the  deported  Armenians.  Each  of  the  seventy  days 
had  its  tragedies.  I  have  selected  only  a  few  days.  The 
tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  who  are 
expelled  from  their  homes  undergo  similar  treatment. 

393 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

There  are  twenty  colleges  among  the  Armenians, 
established  by  Americans.  I  have  visited  some  of  these 
colleges,  and  have  many  times  addressed  the  students. 
I  have  never  found  more  intelligent  or  more  refined  or 
better  appearing  college  students  in  any  American 
college.  The  buildings  and  the  courses  of  study  remind 
one  of  the  typical  American  college  found  all  over  the 
United  States.  They  might  be  in  Illinois  or  California. 
The  teaching  faculties  include  many  men  and  women 
who  have  been  educated  in  Germany,  England,  or  the 
United  States.  The  colleges  form  little  oases  of 
America. 

I  give  typical  narratives  of  experiences  in  some  of 
these  institutions.  It  must  be  understood  that  it  is  the 
teachers  of  Armenian  nationality  who  suffer. 

Tovm  of  H. :  Statement  by  the  Principal  of  the  College,  dated 
19th  July,  1915;  communicated  by  the  American  Com- 
mittee for  Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief 

I  shall  try  to  banish  from  my  mind  for  the  time  the  sense 
of  great  personal  sorrow  at  losing  hundreds  of  my  friends 
here,  and  also  my  sense  of  utter  defeat  in  being  so  unable  to 
stop  the  awful  tragedy  or  even  mitigate  to  any  degree  its 
severity,  and  compel  myself  to  give  you  concisely  some  of 
the  cold  facts  of  the  past  months,  as  they  relate  themselves 
to  the  College.  I  do  so  with  the  hope  that  the  possession  of 
these  concrete  facts  may  help  you  to  do  something  there  for 
the  handful  of  dependents  still  left  to  us  here. 

Buildings.  Seven  of  our  big  buildings  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  Government,  only  one  remaining  in  our  hands.  The 
seven  buildings  in  question  are  empty,  except  for  twenty 
guards  who  are  stationed  there.  I  cannot  tell  you  exactly 
the  amount  of  loss  we  have  sustained  in  money  by  robberies, 
breakages,  and  other  means,  and  there  is  no  sign  that  the 
Turks  will  ever  return  these  buildings  to  us. 

394 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

Constituency.  Approximately  two  thirds  of  the  girl  pupils 
and  six  sevenths  of  the  boys  have  been  taken  away  to  death, 
exile,  or  Moslem  homes. 

Professors.  Four  gone,  three  left,  as  follows:  — 

Professor  A.  Served  College  thirty -five  years;  representa- 
tive of  the  Americans  with  the  Government;  Protestant, 
Professor  of  Turkish  and  History.  Besides  previous  trouble, 
arrested  May  1  without  charge;  hair  of  head,  mustache  and 
beard  pulled  out,  in  vain  effort  to  secure  damaging  confes- 
sions; starved  and  hung  by  arms  for  a  day  and  a  night,  and 
severely  beaten  several  times;  taken  out  towards  Diyarbekir 
about  June  20,  and  murdered  in  general  massacre  on  the 
road. 

Professor  B.  Served  College  thirty- three  years;  studied 
at  Ann  Arbor;  Professor  of  Mathematics.  Arrested  about 
June  5,  and  shared  Professor  A.'s  fate  on  the  road. 

Professor  C.  Taken  to  witness  a  man  beaten  almost  to 
death;  became  mentally  deranged;  started  with  his  family 
about  July  5  into  exile  under  guard,  and  murdered  beyond 
Malatia.  Principal  of  Preparatory  Department;  studied  at 
Princeton;  served  College  twenty  years. 

Professor  D.  Served  College  sixteen  years;  studied  at 
Edinburgh;  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Science.  Ar- 
rested with  Professor  A.  and  suffered  same  tortures;  also 
had  three  finger  nails  pulled  out  by  the  roots ;  killed  in  same 
massacre. 

Professor  E.  Served  College  twenty-five  years.  Arrested 
May  1 ;  not  tortured,  but  sick  in  prison;  sent  to  Red  Crescent 
Hospital,  and  after  paying  large  bribes  is  now  free. 

Professor  F.  Served  College  for  over  fifteen  years ;  studied 
in  Stuttgart  and  Berlin;  Professor  of  Music.  Escaped  arrest 
and  torture,  and  thus  far  escaped  exile  and  death,  because  of 
favor  with  the  Kaimakam  secured  by  personal  services 
rendered. 

Professor  G.  Served  College  about  fifteen  years;  studied 
at  Cornell  and  Yale  (M.S.);  Professor  of  Biology.  Arrested 
about  June  5 ;  beaten  about  the  hands,  body,  and  head  with 
a  stick  by  the  Kaimakam  himself,  who,  when  tired,  called  on 
all  who  loved  religion  and  the  nation  to  continue  the  beat- 

395 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

ing;  after  a  period  of  insensibility  in  a  dark  closet,  taken  to 
the  Red  Crescent  Hospital  with  a  broken  finger  and  serious 
bruises.   Now  free. 

Instructors,  male.  Four,  whose  average  term  of  service  is 
eight  years,  reported  killed  on  the  road  in  various  massacres. 
Three  not  heard  from,  probably  killed  on  the  road;  average 
term  of  service  in  the  College,  four  years.  Two  sick  in  the 
American  Hospital.  One  elsewhere.  One,  engaged  in  cabinet 
work  for  the  Kaimakam,  free.  One,  owner  of  house  occupied 
by  the  Kaimakam,  free. 

Instructors,  female.  One  reported  killed  in  F. ;  served  the 
College  over  twenty  years.  One  reported  taken  to  a  Turkish 
harem.  Three  not  heard  from.  Four  started  out  as  exiles. 
Ten  free. 

Total  loss.  About  seven  eighths  of  the  buildings,  three 
quarters  of  the  students,  and  half  the  teaching  staff. 

Of  the  Armenian  people  as  a  whole  we  may  estimate  that 
three  fourths  are  gone,  and  this  three  fourths  includes  the 
leaders  in  every  walk  of  life  —  merchants,  professional  men, 
preachers,  bishops  and  government  officials. 

I  have  said  enough.  Our  hearts  are  sick  with  these  sights 
and  stories  of  abject  terror  and  suffering.  The  extermina- 
tion of  the  race  seems  to  be  the  object,  and  the  means  em- 
ployed are  more  fiendish  than  could  be  concocted  locally. 
The  orders  are  from  headquarters,  and  any  reprieve  must 
be  from  the  same  source.  All  the  Armenian  young  men 
in  the  town  were  arrested  and  terrorized  by  infernal  tor- 
ments. 

The  majority  of  the  young  Armenians  who  were  treated 
in  this  way  were  pupils  of  the  American  College,  the  French 
College,  and  the  Central  Armenian  School. 

In  July  all  Armenian  families  of  any  standing  in  G.  were 
compelled  to  emigrate.  The  arrests  of  the  young  men  had 
been  effected  at  night-time,  but  the  deportation  of  these 
wealthy  families  was  carried  out  in  full  daylight. 

These  individuals  were  taken  a  distance  of  twenty  kilo- 
metres and  then  slaughtered  without  pity,  like  cattle,  on 
the  banks  of  a  river  and  their  corpses  thrown  into  the  water. 
As  for  the  rest,  the  men  were  separated  from  the  women  and 

396 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

cruelly  murdered  by  blows  of  the  axe.  The  women  and  girls 
were  carried  off  by  the  Kurds  and  Turks. 

All  the  professors  and  schoolmasters  were  also  imprisoned 
and  subsequently  assassinated,  at  the  same  time  as  the 
young  men.  Those,  however,  who  were  connected  with 
German  institutions  were  happily  excepted. 

M  amour  et-ul- Aziz 

Shortly  after  last  Easter  (1915),  the  Turkish  officials 
searched  the  Armenian  churches  and  schools  of  G.,  H.,  C, 
AQ.,  AR.,  AS.,  and  the  surrounding  villages,  but  without 
finding  anything  incriminating. 

After  that,  they  arrested  from  the  town  of  C.  the  following 
persons;  Professor  B.,  Mr.  H.  and  his  brother  J.,  Mr.  O.  and 
his  son  P.,  Mr.  Q.,  the  brothers  R.,  the  brothers  S.,  and  T. 
Effendi,  as  well  as  many  others,  old  and  young.  They  took 
them  to  the  house  of  V.  Agha,  stripped  them  one  by  one  and 
gave  them  three  hundred  lashes  on  their  backs.  When  they 
fainted,  they  threw  them  into  a  stable  and  waited  until  they 
had  revived,  in  order  to  beat  them  again. 

After  beating  T.  Effendi  in  H.,  and  tearing  out  his  finger 
nails  and  the  flesh  of  his  hands  and  feet,  they  put  a  rope 
under  his  arms,  dragged  him  to  C.,  and  threw  him  into 
prison.  Then  they  entered  his  house,  and,  on  the  pretense  of 
searching  it,  made  his  wife,  who  was  in  indifferent  health, 
lie  on  the  ground;  a  soldier  sat  on  her,  and  they  began  to 
beat  her  on  her  feet,  asking  her  where  they  had  hidden  their 
arms.   After  a  few  days  her  husband  died  in  the  prison. 

In  C.  they  beat  many  young  men  to  get  their  arms,  so  that 
they  were  obliged  to  buy  arms  from  the  Turks  and  give 
them  to  the  Government. 

They  plucked  out  the  hair  and  nails  of  some  of  the  pro- 
fessors. They  dug  out  their  eyes  and  branded  them  with  red- 
hot  irons,  so  that  some  of  them  died  immediately,  and  others 
first  lost  their  reason  and  died  thereafter. 
jr  The  Bishop  of  H.,C.J.,and  other  prominent  Armenians 
were  imprisoned  and  suffered  many  cruelties. 

397 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

At  Aleppo 

At  Aleppo  were  the  remnants  of  five  thousand  exiles  who 
had  started  from  Kharput.  Among  them  were  many  intelli- 
gent and  refined  young  women  who  had  graduated  from 
Constantinople  College  and  the  Euphrates  College.  Their 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  gendarmes,  and  their  fate  as 
occupants  of  harems,  are  almost  unthinkable.  When  the 
refugees  came  to  cross  the  rivers  that  flow  into  the  Eu- 
phrates, the  able-bodied  men  were  drowned.  Further  on, 
the  survivors,  now  only  old  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
stripped  of  all  their  clothing.  Naked,  they  waded  through 
streams,  slept  in  the  chilly  nights,  and  bore  the  heat  of  the 
sun.  They  were  brought  into  Aleppo  for  the  last  few  miles  in 
third-class  railway  carriages,  herded  together  like  so  many 
animals.  When  the  doors  of  the  carriages  were  opened  they 
were  jeered  at  by  the  populace  for  their  nakedness.  Of  the 
five  thousand  that  had  started  from  Kharput  only  two  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  were  left! 

Marash 

In  Marash  an  orphanage  had  to  be  given  up  to  the  Turks, 
who  turned  it  over  to  men.  Its  occupants  were  girls  and 
young  women,  made  orphans  by  the  massacres  of  1909  and 
preceding  years.  Many  of  them  were  cultured  young  women. 
The  condition  of  those  not  yet  dead  is  worse  than  death 
itself.  In  a  German  orphanage  at  Marash  there  were  more 
than  one  thousand  girls.  The  order  for  expatriation  came, 
and,  in  order  that  she  might  shield  a  few  of  the  older  girls, 
the  head  mistress  kept  them  under  her  own  protection.  Soon 
there  came  a  telegram  from  the  German  Consul  at  Aleppo, 
saying:  "You  have  hidden  some  girls.  You  have  no  busi- 
ness to  do  such  a  thing.  Give  them  up."  The  girls  had  to  be 
given  up,  and  were  taken  away  to  suffer  the  inevitable  at  the 
hands  of  their  Turkish  masters.  This  so  angered  the  head 
mistress  that  she  went  to  Constantinople  to  protest  to  the 
German  Ambassador.  She  tried  repeatedly  to  interview  him 
on  the  subject,  but  failed  every  time.     She  was  told  curtly 

398 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

that  it  was  none  of  her  business.     Broken-hearted,  she  re- 
turned to  do  what  little  relief  work  might  be  possible. 

The  following  document  gives  the  results  of  the 
deportations  in  certain  provinces.  Although  limited  to 
the  provinces  known  to  the  writer  of  the  document,  he 
describes  the  general  result  of  the  deportations  and 
massacres. 

One  Turkish  official,  who  was  worn  out  with  the 
work  of  deportation,  remarked  that  the  work  in  Tur- 
key was  different  from  such  work  in  Europe,  for  all  the 
officials  had  to  do  there  was  to  put  people  on  trains 
and  send  them  away! 

Results  of  deportations  in  certain  provinces 

It  is  now  established  that  there  is  not  an  Armenian  left  in 
the  provinces  of  Erzeroum,  Trebizond,  Sivas,  Harput, 
Bitlis,  and  Diyarbekir.  About  a  million  of  the  Armenian 
inhabitants  of  these  provinces  have  been  deported  from  their 
homes  and  sent  southwards  into  exile.  These  deportations 
have  been  carried  out  very  systematically  by  the  local  au- 
thorities since  the  beginning  of  April  last.  First  of  all,  in 
every  village  and  every  town  the  population  was  disarmed 
by  the  gendarmerie,  and  by  criminals  released  for  this  pur- 
pose from  prison.  On  the  pretext  of  disarming  the  Armen- 
ians, these  criminals  committed  assassinations  and  inflicted 
hideous  tortures.  .  .  .  The  highest  official,  as  well  as  the 
most  simple  peasant,  chose  out  the  woman  or  girl  who  caught 
his  fancy,  and  took  her  to  wife,  converting  her  by  force  to 
Islam.  As  for  the  children  the  Moslems  took  as  many  of 
them  as  they  wanted,  and  then  the  remnant  of  the  Armen- 
ians were  marched  away,  famished  and  destitute  of  provis- 
ions, to  fall  victims  to  hunger,  unless  that  were  anticipated 
by  the  savagery  of  the  brigand  bands.  In  the  province  of 
Diyarbekir  there  was  an  outright  massacre,  especially  at 
Mardin,  and  the  population  was  subjected  to  all  the  afore- 
mentioned atrocities.  .  .  . 

399 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

The  Armenian  soldiers  too,  have  suffered  the  same  fate. 
They  were  also  all  disarmed  and  put  to  constructing  roads. 
We  have  certain  knowledge  that  the  Armenian  soldiers  of 
the  province  of  Erzeroum,  who  were  at  work  on  the  road 
from  Erzeroum  to  Erzindjan,  have  all  been  massacred. 
The  Armenian  soldiers  of  the  province  of  Diyarbekir  have 
all  been  massacred  on  the  Diyarbekir-Durfa  road,  and  the 
Diyarbekir-Harput  road.  From  Harput  alone,  eighteen 
hundred  young  Armenians  were  enrolled  and  sent  off  to 
work  at  Diyarbekir;  all  were  massacred  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Arghana.  We  have  no  news  from  the  other  districts,  but 
they  have  assuredly  suffered  the  same  fate  there  also. 

The  following  extracts  are  from  authenticated  docu- 
ments. They  are  typical  of  the  whole  mass  of  docu- 
ments, and  do  not  exaggerate  the  impression  one  gets 
if  he  examines  all  the  data :  — 

Bitlis,  Moush,  and  Sassoun 

The  shortest  method  for  disposing  of  the  women  and  chil- 
dren concentrated  in  the  various  camps  was  to  burn  them. 
Fire  was  set  to  large  wooden  sheds  in  Alidjan,  Megrakon, 
Khaskegh,  and  other  Armenian  villages,  and  these  abso- 
lutely helpless  women  and  children  were  roasted  to  death. 
Many  went  mad  and  threw  their  children  away ;  some  knelt 
down  and  prayed  amid  the  flames  in  which  their  bodies  were 
burning;  others  shrieked  and  cried  for  help  which  came  from 
nowhere.  And  the  executioners,  who  seem  to  have  been  un- 
moved by  this  unparalleled  savagery,  grasped  infants  by  one 
leg  and  hurled  them  into  the  fire,  calling  out  to  the  burning 
mothers:  "Here  are  your  lions."  Turkish  prisoners  who  had 
apparently  witnessed  some  of  these  scenes  were  horrified 
and  maddened  at  remembering  the  sight.  They  told  the 
Russians  that  the  stench  of  the  burning  human  flesh  per- 
meated the  air  for  many  days  after. 


400 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

Moush  district 

All  the  old  women  and  the  weak  who  were  unable  to  walk 
were  killed.  There  were  about  one  hundred  Kurdish  guards 
over  us,  and  our  lives  depended  on  their  pleasure.  It  was  a 
very  common  thing  for  them  to  rape  our  girls  in  our  pres- 
ence. Very  often  they  violated  eight-  or  ten-  year-old  girls, 
and  as  a  consequence  many  would  be  unable  to  walk,  and 
were  shot. 

Baibourt 

The  worst  and  most  unimaginable  horrors  were  reserved 
for  us  at  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  and  in  the  Erzindjan 
plain.  The  mutilated  bodies  of  women,  girls,  and  little  chil- 
dren made  everybody  shudder.  The  brigands  were  doing 
all  sorts  of  awful  deeds  to  the  women  and  girls  that  were  with 
us,  whose  cries  went  up  to  heaven.  At  the  Euphrates,  the 
brigands  and  gendarmes  threw  into  the  river  all  the  remain- 
ing children  under  fifteen  years  old.  Those  that  could  swim 
were  shot  down  as  they  struggled  in  the  water. 

Report  of  July  11,  1915  from  H. 

On  the  Monday  many  men  were  arrested,  both  at  H. 
and  S.,  and  put  in  prison. 

On  the  Wednesday  morning  they  were  taken  to  a  valley 
a  few  hours  distant,  where  they  were  all  made  to  sit  down. 
Then  the  gendarmes  began  shooting  them,  until  they  had 
killed  nearly  all  of  them.  Some  who  had  not  been  killed  by 
bullets  were  then  disposed  of  with  knives  and  bayonets. 
Among  those  who  were  killed  was  the  treasurer  of  the  Col- 
lege. Many  other  estimable  men  were  among  the  number. 
[Extract.] 

Trebizond 

On  Saturday,  the  26th  June,  the  proclamation  regarding 

the  deportation  of  all  Armenians  was  posted  in  the  streets. 

The  weeping  and  wailing  of  the  women  and  children  was 

401 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

most  heartrending.  Some  of  these  people  were  from  wealthy 
and  refined  circles.  Some  were  accustomed  to  luxury  and 
ease.  There  were  clergymen,  merchants,  bankers,  lawyers 
mechanics,  tailors,  and  men  from  every  walk  of  life. 

The  whole  Mohammedan  population  knew  that  these 
people  were  to  be  their  prey  from  the  beginning,  and  they 
were  treated  as  criminals. 

The  best-looking  of  the  older  girls,  who  were  retained  as 
caretakers  in  these  orphanages,  are  kept  in  houses  for  the 
pleasure  of  members  of  the  gang  which  seems  to  rule  affairs 
here.  I  hear  on  good  authority  that  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Union  and  Progress  here  has  ten  of  the  handsomest 
girls  in  a  house  in  the  central  part  of  the  city,  for  the  use  of 
himself  and  his  friends. 

Trebizond:  Extracts  from  an  interview  with  Comm.  G.  Gorrini, 
late  Italian  Consul-General  at  Trebizond,  'published  in 
the  Journal  "II  Messaggero,"  of  Rome,  25th  August,  1915 

From  the  24th  June,  the  date  of  the  publication  of  the 
infamous  decree,  until  the  23d  July,  the  date  of  my  own 
departure  from  Trebizond,  I  no  longer  slept  or  ate;  I  was 
given  over  to  nerves  and  nausea,  so  terrible  was  the  torment 
of  having  to  look  on  at  the  wholesale  execution  of  these 
defenseless,  innocent  creatures. 

The  passing  of  the  gangs  of  Armenian  exiles  beneath  the 
windows  and  before  the  door  of  the  Consulate;  their  prayers 
for  help,  when  neither  I  nor  any  other  could  do  anything  to 
answer  them;  the  city  in  a  state  of  siege,  guarded  at  every 
point  by  fifteen  thousand  troops  in  complete  war  equip- 
ment, by  thousands  of  police  agents,  by  bands  of  volunteers 
and  by  the  members  of  the  "Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress";  the  lamentations,  the  tears,  the  abandonments, 
the  imprecations,  the  many  suicides,  the  instantaneous 
deaths  from  sheer  terror,  the  sudden  unhinging  of  men's 
reason,  the  conflagrations,  the  shooting  of  victims  in  the 
city,  the  ruthless  searches  through  the  houses  and  in  the 
countryside;  the  hundreds  of  corpses  found  every  day  along 
the  exile  road;  the  young  women  converted  by  force  to 

402 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ARMENIA 

Islam  or  exiled  like  the  rest;  the  children  torn  away  from 
their  families  or  from  the  Christian  schools,  and  handed  over 
by  force  to  Moslem  families,  or  else  placed  by  hundreds  on 
board  ship  in  nothing  but  their  shirts,  and  then  capsized  and 
drowned  in  the  Black  Sea  and  the  river  Deyirmen  Dere  — 
these  are  my  last  ineffaceable  memories  of  Trebizond,  memo- 
ries which  still,  at  a  months'  distance,  torment  my  soul  and 
almost  drive  me  frantic. 

Proclamation  by  the  Turkish  Government 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1915  the  following  proclama- 
tion was  sent  to  all  the  officials  in  the  interior  of 
Turkey :  — 

First.  All  Armenians,  with  the  exception  of  the  sick,  shall 
leave  their  villages  or  quarters,  under  the  escort  of  the  gen- 
darmerie, within  five  days  from  the  date  of  this  proclama- 
tion. 

Second.  Though  they  are  free  to  carry  with  them  on  their 
journey  such  articles  of  movable  property  as  they  may  de- 
sire, they  are  forbidden  to  sell  their  lands  or  their  extra 
effects,  or  to  leave  the  latter  with  other  persons,  as  their 
exile  is  only  temporary,  and  their  landed  property  and  the 
effects  they  are  unable  to  take  with  them  will  be  taken  care 
of  under  supervision  of  the  Government,  and  stored  in  pro- 
tected buildings.  Any  one  who  sells  or  attempts  to  dispose 
of  his  movable  effects  or  landed  property  in  a  manner  con- 
trary to  this  order,  shall  be  tried  by  court-martial.  Persons 
are  free  to  sell  to  the  Government  only  such  articles  as  may 
answer  the  needs  of  the  army.  .  .  . 

The  fifth  clause  reads :  — 

Since  the  Armenians  are  obliged  to  submit  to  the  decision 
of  the  Government,  if  any  of  them  attempt  to  resist  the  sol- 
diers or  gendarmes  by  force  of  arms,  arms  shall  be  used 
against  them,  and  they  shall  be  taken  dead  or  alive.  In  like 
manner,  those  who,  in  opposition  to  the  Government's  deci- 
sion, refrain  from  leaving  or  seek  to  hide  themselves,  shall 

403 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

be  sent  before  a  court  martial;  and  if  they  are  sheltered  or 
given  food  and  assistance,  the  persons  who  shelter  or  aid 
them  shall  be  sent  before  the  court  martial  for  execution. 
[Extracts.] 

Such  was  the  order  in  accordance  with  which  all 
these  things  were  done. 


CHAPTER  XX 

ALLEGED   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN   ATROCITIES 

IN   SERVIA 

In  1910  I  became  acquainted  with  Professor  R.  A. 
Reiss,  of  the  University  of  Lausanne.  I  formed  a  high 
opinion  of  him.  He  is  regarded  as  a  distinguished  man 
of  science  and  a  skilled  investigator.  From  personal 
investigations  in  Servia,  he  has  compiled  a  report  of 
the  extraordinary  cruelties  of  the  invading  armies. 
He  visited  Belgrade,  Schabatz,  and  Loznitza  while  they 
were  under  fire. 

I  give  here  a  few  extracts  from  his  report. 

Houses  were  set  on  fire  and  people  roasted  to  death. 
Fires  were  lit  under  the  beds  of  the  wounded.  Women, 
children,  and  old  men  were  put  in  front  of  the  Aus- 
trian fighting  line  during  battle,  and  mention  is  made 
of  women  being  compelled  to  march  with  the  soldiers 
within  two  days  after  their  children  had  been  born. 
Churches  were  utilized  for  the  vilest  and  most  de- 
grading practices.  Some  families  were  pinioned  to- 
gether and  buried  in  ditches  with  their  dogs. 

Massacres  of  civilians 

There  are  many  cases  of  the  abduction  of  young  girls  and 
their  detention  for  days  at  a  time  by  the  enemy.  Officers 
as  well  as  men  were  guilty  of  these  outrages,  but  the  offi- 
cers did  not  go  to  the  same  extreme  as  they  permitted  the 
privates  in  the  worst  orgies  of  lust  and  drunkenness. 

A  private  of  the  Seventy-ninth  Regiment  said  that  near 
Drenovatz  the  Austrian  officers  made  a  ring  of  twenty-six 

405 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

persons  round  a  house  and  then  set  fire  to  the  house,  thus 
burning  the  twenty-six  victims. 

At  the  same  town  the  Austrians  arrested  five  hundred 
to  six  hundred  women  and  girls  and  kept  them  at  the  hotel 
for  four  days  for  the  pleasure  of  the  soldiers. 

In  the  three  districts  of  Polzerie,  Matchva,  and  Yadar, 
the  various  kinds  of  death  and  torture  inflicted  were  appor- 
tioned as  follows :  — 

Males    Females 

Victims  shot 345  64 

Victims  killed  with  knives 113  27 

Victims  hanged 7  6 

Victims  massacred  and  clubbed  to  death  with  sticks  and 

butt-ends  of  rifles 48  2 

Victims  disemboweled 2  4 

Victims  burned  alive 35  96 

Victims  pinioned  and  robbed 52  12 

Victims  whose  arms  were  cut  off,  torn  off  or  broken 5  1 

Victims  whose  noses  were  cut  off 28  6 

Victims  whose  ears  were  cut  off 31  7 

Victims  whose  eyes  were  put  out 30  38 

Victims  whose  genital  organs  were  mutilated 3  3 

Victims  whose  skin  was  cut  in  strips,  or  portions  of  their 

face  detached 15  3 

Victims  stoned 12  1 

Victims  whose  breasts  were  cut  off 0  2 

Victims  cut  in  pieces 17  16 

Victims  beheaded 1  0 

Little  girl  thrown  to  the  pigs 0  1 

Victims  killed  without  the  manner  of  their  deaths  being 

specified 240  55 

Summing  up  the  evidence  Professor  Reiss  says :  — 

The  number  of  victims  —  children,  women,  young  men, 
and  old  men  —  amounts  to  a  comparatively  high  percen- 
tage of  the  population  of  the  territory  invaded.  .  .  .  Once 
the  bloodthirsty  and  Sadie  brute  was  unchained  and  let 
loose  by  his  superiors,  the  work  of  destruction  was  duly 
carried  out  by  men  who  are  fathers  of  families  and  probably 
kindly  in  private  life. 

I  add  to  this  trustworthy  account  of  the  alleged 
atrocities  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Army  in  Servia 
a  description  of  the  sinking  of  the  Ancona,  written  by 

406 


AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  ATROCITIES  IN  SERVIA 

Dr.  Cecile  Greil,  an  American  woman,  for  the  New 
York  "Times."  All  the  survivors  testify  that  there 
was  no  warning  from  the  submarine  for  the  vessel  to 
stop.  The  submarine  began  to  shell  the  ship  imme- 
diately. Dr.  Greil  says:  — 

A  terrific  vibration  shook  the  ship.  I  was  thrown  back 
into  my  seat.  I  knew  that  the  ship  must  be  stopping.  I 
heard  a  running  and  scurrying  about  the  deck  outside. 
Looking  out,  I  saw,  through  the  dining-saloon  window,  six 
or  ten  stewards  in  white  whirling  out  of  sight  around  an 
angle. 

The  submarine  stood  out  in  clear,  black  outline  against 
the  white  background  of  mist. 

I  went  toward  the  bow  of  the  ship.  I  descended  the  stair- 
case to  the  second  cabin,  on  the  way  to  the  purser's  office. 
A  large  part  of  the  staircase  had  been  shot  away  —  and 
the  horror  of  what  I  saw  at  the  bottom  of  it  made  me  in- 
stantly forget  what  I  was  going  for.  There  lay  three  or  four 
women,  four  or  five  children,  and  several  men.  Some  of 
them  were  already  dead,  all,  at  least,  badly  wounded.  I 
made  sure  two  of  the  children  were  dead.  The  purser 
sprawled  limply  across  his  desk,  inert,  like  a  sack  of  meal 
that  has  been  flung  down  and  stays  where  it  lies.  He  had 
been  shot  in  the  head.  The  blood  was  running  bright  like 
red  paint,  freshly  spilt,  down  his  back,  and  his  hair  was 
matted  with  it. 

The  first  series  of  shots  had  wrecked  this  part  of  the  ship, 
breaking  through  and  carrying  away  whole  sections  of  the 
framework.  I  tried  to  get  back  up  the  stairs.  But  in  the 
slight  interval  of  time  I  had  consumed,  enough  additional 
shells  had  been  discharged  to  finish  the  wreck  of  the  stair- 
case. Seeing  my  exit  that  way  cut  off,  I  started  through  the 
second  cabin  to  go  up  the  central  stairway.  The  sight  that 
I  ran  into  there  was  indescribable.  All  the  passengers  from 
the  third  cabin  had  rushed  up  into  the  second.  They  had 
altogether  lost  their  wits.  The  only  thing  that  was  left 
them  was  the  animal  instinct  for  self-preservation  in  its 

407 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

most  disastrous  and  most  idiotic  form.  Men,  women,  and 
children  were  burrowing  head-foremost  under  chairs  and 
benches  and  tables. 

All  the  while  the  detonations,  like  continuous  thunder 
and  lightning,  increased  the  panic.  Women  were  on  their 
knees  in  mental  agony,  each  supplicating  the  particular 
saint  of  the  part  of  the  country  from  which  she  came  to 
save  her  from  death. 

A  boat  was  being  lowered.  It  had  been  swung  out  on  the 
davits.  It  already  seethed  full  of  people.  And  more  men 
and  women  and  children  were  fighting,  in  a  promiscuous, 
shrieking  mass,  to  get  into  it  as  it  swung  out  and  down. 
The  men,  with  their  superior  strength,  were,  of  course, 
getting  the  best  of  the  struggle.  Age  or  sex  had  no  weight. 
It  was  brute  strength  that  prevailed. 

Others  flung  their  bodies  pell-mell  on  the  heads  of  those 
already  overboard.  Some,  in  their  frenzy,  missed  the  mark 
at  which  they  aimed  themselves  and  fell  into  the  sea.  To 
make  the  horror  complete,  the  boat  now  stuck  at  one  end, 
tilted  downward,  and  spilled  all  its  occupants  into  the  sea, 
ninety  or  a  hundred  at  once.  They  seized  each  other.  Some 
swam.  Others  floundered  and  sank  almost  immediately, 
dragging  each  other  down.  Some  drowned  themselves  even 
with  lifebelts  on,  not  knowing  how  to  hold  their  heads  out 
of  the  water. 

I  saw  one  man  who  had  started  to  run  up  the  gangway 
to  the  officer's  deck  come  plunging  down  again.  He  had 
been  struck  in  the  back  of  the  head. 

In  my  cabin  I  flung  up  the  top  of  my  steamer  trunk.  As 
I  was  searching  for  my  valuables  my  chambermaid  appeared 
in  the  doorway;  half  a  dozen  times  I  had  met  her  rushing 
frantically  and  aimlessly  up  and  down. 

"Oh,  madame,  madame  —  we  shall  all  be  killed,  we're 
all  going  to  get  killed ! " 

"Maria,"  I  advised  as  quietly  and  soothingly  as  I  could, 
still  stooping  over  my  trunk;  "don't  be  so  mad,  get  a  life- 
belt on,  and  get  up  out  of  here." 

Before  she  could  speak  again  she  was  a  dead  woman.  A 
shot  carried  away  the  porthole  and  sheared  off  the  top  of 

408 


AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  ATROCITIES  IN  SERVIA 

her  head.  It  finished  its  course  by  exploding  at  the  other 
side  of  the  ship.  If  I  had  not  been  stooping  over  at  the  time 
I  would  not  have  lived  to  write  this  story. 

When  I  got  up  on  deck  I  saw  the  submarine  carefully 
circumnavigating  its  victims  and  deliberately  shooting 
toward  us  at  all  angles.  I  ran  along  the  deck.  The  sea  was 
full  of  deck  rails,  parts  of  doors,  and  other  wreckage,  and 
dotted  with  human  beings,  some  dead,  others  alive,  and 
screaming  for  help.  There  was  another  boat  in  front  that 
tilted  and  dumped  out  its  frantic  load  into  the  sea.  Peering 
over  the  side  of  the  ship,  I  saw  a  boat  that  had  already  been 
lowered  to  the  water's  edge.  In  it  I  recognized  the  two 
ship's  doctors,  and  two  of  the  seamen.  There  was  also  an 
officer  in  the  boat,  Carlo  Lamberti,  the  chief  engineer.  He 
sat  at  the  helm.  I  called  out  to  them  to  take  me  in. 

"Jump!"  they  shouted  back. 

I  escaped  with  a  ducking. 

An  immigrant  girl  who  followed  me  flung  herself  down 
wildly  and  broke  both  her  legs  on  the  side  of  the  ship. 

Then  the  torpedo  was  discharged.  It  whizzed  across  the 
ship,  drawing  a  tail  behind  it  like  a  comet.  It  plunged  be- 
neath the  Ancona  as  if  guided  by  a  diabolical  intelligence 
of  its  own.  There  followed  a  terrific  explosion.  Huge  jets 
of  thick  black  smoke  shot  up,  with  showers  of  debris.  Our 
boat  rocked  and  swayed  in  the  roughened  water.  The 
Ancona  lurched  to  the  left,  righted  herself,  shivered  a  mo- 
ment —  then  her  bow  shot  high  in  the  air  like  a  struggling, 
death-stricken  animal.  She  went  under,  drawing  a  huge, 
funnel -like  vortex  after  her.  There  were  many  people 
wounded,  so  that  they  could  not  get  off  unaided.  They  were 
left  to  die. 

Over  two  hundred  men,  women  and  children  per- 
ished miserably. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  to  consider  this  scene,  with 
the  murder,  by  shell  fire  and  drowning,  of  two  hun- 
dred human  beings.  Such  a  deed  is  not  unparalleled 
in  atrociousness.  The  records  of  the  destruction  of  the 

409 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Armenians  describe  events  that  are  even  more  ter- 
rible. Still,  I  think  that  all  will  agree  that  the  Turkish 
Government  need  not  be  ashamed  of  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

ENGLAND 

I  propose  to  give  a  picture  of  the  general  feeling  in 
England:  As  to  the  Germans  and  Germany;  as  to  the 
navy;  as  to  tariffs;  as  to  labor  and  capital;  as  to  France; 
as  to  terms  of  peace. 

To  understand  the  attitude  of  England  in  regard  to 
all  these  questions,  it  is  essential  first  of  all  to  under- 
stand her  feeling  toward  the  Germans  and  Germany. 
The  impressions  I  received  on  this  point  are  the  result 
of  contact  with  English  people  whom  I  visited,  with 
the  more  important  heads  of  industry  and  business 
men,  with  editors,  and  with  people  in  general. 

I  was  spending  a  week-end  at  the  home  of  a  family 
whose  name  is  known  all  over  the  world,  and  my  host- 
ess was  speaking  about  the  feeling  of  England  with 
regard  to  Germany.  After  an  extraordinary  series  of 
statements  she  ended  up  with  this,  that  she  wanted 
Berlin  razed  to  the  ground  and  a  wall  built  around  it. 
Another  lady,  a  member  of  the  household,  turned  to 
me  apologetically  and  rather  remonstrated  with  the 
hostess  for  her  extreme  views,  and  then,  trying  to 
explain  to  me,  she  said:  "You  know,  Mr.  McClure, 
we  look  upon  the  Germans  as  something  like  gorillas." 

I  was  then  taken  to  a  library  where  there  were  book- 
shelves lining  one  side  of  the  room.  My  hostess  pulled 
out  what  was  apparently  shelves  of  books,  and  it  was 
really  a  door,  and  behind  it  was  a  large  closet,  almost  a 
room,  and  she  showed  me  there  a  loaded  revolver.  She 
said  that  if  the  Germans  should  come  the  women 

411 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

would  go  into  the  closet,  and  if  discovered  they  would 
shoot  themselves.  I  was  telling  this  to  friends  in  Lon- 
don, and  they  said,  "Certainly;  our  women  are  pre- 
pared to  shoot  themselves  rather  than  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Germans,  if  by  any  chance  there  should 
be  an  invasion  of  England." 

At  bottom  the  feeling  in  England  is  one  rather  of 
horror  and  disappointment  than  of  hatred.  When  I 
was  in  Belgium  I  was  told  of  the  mass  of  material  col- 
lected by  Professor  Jean  Massart,  dealing  with  the 
experiences  of  the  Belgian  people  during  the  invasion 
and  the  first  year  of  occupation.  This  book  is  now 
published ;  it  is  much  more  illuminating  than  the  Bryce 
Report,  and  has  greatly  deepened  the  feeling  in  Eng- 
land in  regard  to  the  invasion  of  Belgium.  This  is  only 
one  of  a  mass  of  publications,  in  English  and  French, 
which,  together  with  such  acts  as  the  execution  of 
Captain  Fryatt  and  the  Lille  deportations,  have  hard- 
ened the  determination  of  England;  and  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  effect  of  these  things  on  the  public 
mind  is  such  as  greatly  to  lengthen  the  war. 

I  was  talking  to  a  man  of  great  shipping  interests 
about  Captain  Fryatt,  who  had  dodged  the  submarines 
and  brought  his  ship  back  safely  from  many  voyages. 
He  was  given  a  gold  watch  by  his  Company,  the  Great 
Eastern  Railway  Company;  and  this  man  said  that 
later  on  Captain  Fryatt  was  faced  by  a  submarine 
which  he  tried  to  ram,  and  he  received  a  watch  from 
the  Admiralty  in  recognition  of  his  splendid  seaman- 
ship. "He  had  not  sunk  a  submarine,"  he  said,  "but 
had  protected  his  property  in  the  only  way  he  could." 
This  man  said  that  the  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt 
had  made  a  more  profound  impression  in  all  shipping 

412 


ENGLAND 

and  business  circles  than  almost  any  other  single 
event,  and  would  greatly  harden  the  terms  of  peace 
which  England  would  impose.  Then  he  went  on  to  say 
that  in  the  first  few  months  of  the  war  there  was  no 
special  feeling  against  the  Germans  by  the  English, 
but  that  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  the  Bryce 
Report  and  other  similar  things  had  brought  about 
the  present  state  of  feeling;  and  he  added:  "You  know, 
it  is  not  so  much  hatred  we  feel  to  the  Germans;  we 
look  upon  them  as  we  might  look  upon  snakes."  This 
man's  name  is  known  widely  in  America  as  well  as  in 
England.  He  expressed  the  average  thought  of  indus- 
trial and  shipping  England. 

The  Reverend  A.  J.  Campbell,  one  of  the  foremost 
preachers  of  England,  said :  — 

Germany  is  a  unique  moral  phenomenon,  a  case  of  deprav- 
ity on  a  grand  scale,  engendered  by  forty  years'  worship  of 
the  blood-god.  We  may  as  well  appeal  to  the  finer  instincts 
of  a  Bengal  tiger  as  try  to  make  this  people  realize  its  offense 
against  all  that  is  high  and  noble  in  the  relations  of  states 
and  individuals. 

Germany  is  a  criminal  nation,  and  ought  to  be  treated  as 
criminals  are  treated  in  any  civilized  community  on  earth. 
The  criminal  fears  for  his  skin  and  nothing  else. 

An  American  lady,  a  writer  who  has  written  for 
"McClure's  Magazine,"  was  reading  me  a  poem  by 
the  great  Belgian  poet,  a  Belgian  cradle  song,  and  the 
last  line  was,  " O  Lord !  Deliver  us  from  the  Germans  " ; 
she  stopped  and  in  the  most  intense  fashion,  her  eyes 
shining  with  tears,  she  said:  "That  is  the  prayer  of 
every  woman  and  girl  in  England,  Belgium,  and 
France." 

In  addition  to  the  published  material  on  this  topic, 

413 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

there  is  a  constant  body  of  new  information  coming 
by  word  of  mouth.  I  am  told  that  Lord  Bryce  was  very 
skeptical  in  regard  to  the  Belgian  atrocities  when  he 
began  investigation.  His  feeling  now  is  as  strong  as 
that  of  any  one  I  have  met.  Besides,  there  are  numer- 
ous documents  of  a  more  terrible  sort,  which  have  not 
been  published,  but  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Those  have  been  seen  by  various  people  and 
have  had  a  tremendous  effect. 

I  had  an  interview  with  Lord  Cromer  —  a  man 
whose  services  to  the  Empire  in  India  and  Egypt  have 
given  him  an  imperial  outlook  and  a  thorough  grasp 
of  the  world-problems  involved  in  this  war.  He  talked 
about  the  real  issue  of  the  war  —  the  future  of  the 
East,  especially  the  questions  of  the  Balkans  and  Asia 
Minor.  "But,"  he  said,  "it  is  not  these  matters  that 
aroused  England.  Lord  Beaconsfield  said  that  the 
English  are  a  sentimental  people.  It  is  such  things  as 
the  treatment  of  Belgium,  the  Lusitania,  the  Zeppelin 
raids,  Edith  Cavell,  and  now  Captain  Fryatt  and  the 
deportations  from  Lille,  that  have  reached  the  ulti- 
mate elements  of  our  people,  and  have  aroused  and 
unified  England  and  the  Empire." 

Another  man  of  the  widest  information  said  to  me; 
"Put  the  Zeppelin  first.  The  Zeppelins  spoke'to  the 
masses  in  the  North,  who  disbelieved  London  and  the 
Government." 

"We  shall  not  forget,"  another  official  said  to  me, 
and  his  manner  meant  more  than  his  words.  The  anni- 
versary of  the  war,  August  4,  1916,  reminded  people 
that  they  might  have  failed  in  1914  and  remained  out 
of  the  war.  This  they  feel  would  have  meant  spiritual 
death  and  moral  degradation. 

414 


ENGLAND 

At  the  present  time  all  ordinary  notions  of  a  navy 
have  passed  away.  Great  Britain  possesses  vastly 
more  sea  power  than  she  had  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  Two  thirds  of  the  engineering  ability  of  the 
Empire  is  devoted  to  building  new  navies.  The  people 
recognize  the  numerous  and  tremendous  duties  of  the 
navy,  which  they  regard  as  vital  to  the  existence  of 
England  and  of  the  Empire. 

Recently  Mr.  Balfour  visited  the  naval  works  on  the 
Clyde.  He  spoke  little  of  the  tremendous  power  of  the 
navy  at  the  present  time,  but  the  keynote  of  his  speech 
was  this:  "It  is  magnificent,  and  I  am  here  to  tell  you 
that  splendid  and  magnificent  though  it  be,  we  of  the 
Admiralty  call  for  yet  more."  He  then  reviewed  the 
work  of  the  navy  and  of  the  mercantile  marine,  forty- 
two  per  cent  of  which  is  occupied  directly  in  war  work, 
carrying  on  their  great  military  operations.  Ten  per 
cent  of  the  mercantile  marine  is  at  the  service  of  the 
Allies.  So  far  as  naval  power  is  concerned,  one  may 
state  that  at  the  end  of  this  war,  whenever  it  may 
come,  Great  Britain  will  possess  a  great  navy,  the 
power  and  extent  of  which  are  almost  unimaginable. 

A  high  Admiralty  official  said  to  me :  — 

England  is  a  fortress  with  her  communications  on  the  sea. 
Cut  her  communications  and  she  starves.  England  is  the 
citadel  of  the  Empire.  Starve  the  citadel  and  the  outlying 
nations  and  dominions  cannot  remain  free.  England  has  a 
great  army,  splendidly  trained  and  equipped,  but  she  has 
what  is  more  vital,  a  super-navy.  The  navy  has  doubled  in 
personnel  in  two  years,  and  in  one  river  we  are  now  building 
a  complete  navy,  battleships,  battle  cruisers,  cruisers,  tor- 
pedo boats,  and  submarines,  equal  to  a  third-class  navy. 
And  in  other  places  we  are  building  an  enormous  number  of 
warships  of  all  classes.  A  million  men,  with  the  finest  en- 

415 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

gineering  talent  and  best  machinery,  work  solely  for  the 
navy. 

We  have  only  begun  warfare  against  the  submarine,  and 
already  one  hundred  thousand  picked  men,  with  three  thou- 
sand submarine  destroyers  and  submarine  traps  that  could 
make  a  complete  barrier  from  Dover  to  New  York,  make 
the  life  of  an  enemy  submarine  that  of  a  hunted  creature, 
from  the  time  it  enters  the  North  Sea.  Millions  of  men  have 
crossed  to  France,  back  and  forth,  and  not  one  lost,  millions 
of  tons  of  supplies,  munitions,  coal,  and  steel  are  shipped 
every  month  to  France  with  absolute  safety.  Our  transport 
system  is  equal  to  the  navy  in  organization. 

The  existence  of  England,  the  well-being  of  the  Empire, 
depend  on  our  control  of  the  sea.  We  will  end  the  war  with 
an  unconquerable  navy. 

The  navy  is  to  us  what  the  air-tube  is  to  the  diver. 

The  question  of  the  submarine  has  caused  great 
naval  activities.  In  the  month  of  July,  1914,  when 
there  was  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  a  European 
war,  Sir  Percy  Scott,  one  of  the  greatest  naval  authori- 
ties in  England,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  "Times"  uphold- 
ing the  belief  that  there  was  no  use  in  building  battle- 
ships, that  the  submarine  put  an  end  to  the  usefulness 
of  warships  of  all  kinds;  and  many  people  believed  as 
he  did.  To  master  the  submarine,  therefore,  was  a 
thing  of  vital  necessity  to  England,  and  the  ablest 
minds  of  the  Empire,  cooperating  with  Admiral 
Jellicoe,  set  out  to  solve  this  question. 

A  merchant,  a  strong  free-trader  whom  I  inter- 
viewed, pooh-poohed  the  idea  that  enmity  would  pre- 
vent trading  after  the  war;  but  he  said:  "I  cannot 
imagine  any  German  being  allowed  to  come  to  England 
to  sell  goods,  nor  can  I  imagine  any  Englishman  acting 
as  an  agent  for  German  goods.  Germany  will  be  the 
social  pariah  for  thirty  years." 

416 


ENGLAND 

The  feeling  in  regard  to  Germany  has  much  to  do 
with  opinions  as  to  tariffs  after  the  war  and  with  the 
attitude  of  labor  and  capital.  There  is  a  strong  body 
of  opinion  somewhat  like  this:  England  has  been  a 
country  built  up  on  the  policy  of  free  trade.  In  this 
great  war  she  has  been  able  not  only  to  maintain 
colossal  armies  and  colossal  fleets,  naval  and  mercan- 
tile, but  to  furnish  material  and  money  to  her  allies  on  a 
scale  hitherto  undreamed  of.  England  has  borrowed  a 
few  hundred  million  dollars  in  America,  but  meantime 
she  has  loaned  four  thousand  million  dollars  to  her 
allies.  This,  they  say,  is  one  of  the  results  of  her  free- 
trade  policy;  they  say  there  is  no  bottom  to  her  re- 
sources, and  further,  that  if  after  the  war  England  puts 
on  protective  tariffs,  she  really  will  have  lost  the  war. 
The  arguments  given  by  those  in  favor  of  the  imposi- 
tion of  tariffs  receive  a  considerable  backing  on  account 
of  hostility  to  Germany. 

In  regard  to  relations  of  labor  and  capital,  two  ideas 
dominate.  One  is  that  labor  must  be  sure  of  a  proper 
share  of  the  profits  from  industry,  and  also  of  proper 
conditions  for  work;  and  secondly,  that  labor  and  cap- 
ital must  cooperate  so  as  to  produce  as  much  as  possi- 
ble. These  ideas  dominate  all  discussions  in  regard  to 
labor  and  capital. 

Whatever  the  outcome  of  the  war,  an  entirely  new 
body  of  beliefs  and  ideals  in  social,  political,  and  indus- 
trial activities  will  dominate  England. 

First  of  all,  woman  suffrage  is  absolutely  sure.  No 
one  speaks  differently;  they  all  say  that  women  have 
shown  their  right  to  vote.  I  remarked  to  one  of  the 
best-informed  editors  in  London  that  we  should  soon 
have  universal  woman  suffrage  in  the  United  States; 

417 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

his  reply  was  that  they  would  have  it  in  England  before 
we  had  it.  Suffrage  is  obtained  by  men  in  England  on 
very  moderate  terms.  Even  these  restrictions  now  will 
be  abolished.  The  universal  saying  is  that  if  a  man  is 
fit  to  fight  he  is  fit  to  vote,  and  one  member  of  Parlia- 
ment interjected  into  a  serious  debate  this  remark: 
"One  gun,  one  vote." 

Universal  suffrage,  therefore,  for  both  men  and 
women  is  immediately  imminent  in  England.  In  a 
recent  speech  Mr.  Asquith  said :  — 

I  say  to  the  House  quite  candidly,  as  a  lifelong  opponent 
of  woman  suffrage,  I  cannot  deny  that  claim. 

This  comes,  however,  as  a  part  of  a  larger  condition 
in  the  general  uplift  of  all  workers. 

With  this  also  comes  the  expansion  of  new  and  more 
profitable  and  more  important  fields  of  labor  for 
women.  Several  times  I  have  seen  women  driving  huge 
delivery  wagons  or  trucks  on  the  streets.  A  large  share 
of  the  conductors  of  busses  are  women.  Perhaps  the 
most  striking  illustration  of  the  new  work  for  women  is 
the  employment  of  women  waitresses  in  the  London 
clubs;  and  club  members  in  general  say  that  they  do 
not  want  to  change  after  the  war,  and  some  one  said 
it  did  not  seem  to  be  a  real  man's  work  to  be  a  waiter 
in  a  club.  That  in  part  arises  from  the  new  attitude 
toward  work  as  work.  Work  is  now  highly  honorable, 
leisure  is  not. 

Probably  five  million  women  were  gainfully  em- 
ployed before  the  war,  and  at  the  present  time  from 
half  to  three  quarters  of  a  million  additional  are  em- 
ployed; so  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  increase  in  num- 
bers of  women  workers  that  has  revolutionized  thought 

418 


ENGLAND 

about  woman's  work,  as  the  advance  in  their  work. 
Women  workers,  like  every  other  class  of  workers  in 
England,  have  been  advanced  in  the  kind  of  work  per- 
formed by  them.  When  a  million  men  have  been  with- 
drawn from  industry,  a  million  men  and  women  have 
been  called  up  from  somewhere  lower  down  to  take 
their  place. 

The  most  striking  employment  of  women  has  been 
in  munition  factories,  where  they  have  done  marvelous 
work;  they  have  been  indispensable.  In  one  munition 
center,  manufacturing  near  London,  there  are  ten 
thousand  five  hundred  women  and  they  are  trying  to 
raise  the  number  to  thirty  thousand  in  that  one  fac- 
tory. 

After  working  two  months  in  munition  factories,  a 
woman  gets  a  triangular  badge  marked  "On  War 
Service."  One  finds  the  same  spirit  among  these  women 
as  one  finds  among  the  five  million  volunteers.  They 
are  drawn  from  every  class  of  society,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest.  It  is  like  a  volunteer  war  mobilization; 
and  these  women  who  have  once  tasted  the  joy  of 
achievement  and  the  independence  of  a  good  income 
are  not  going  back  to  idleness  any  more  than  the  sub- 
merged men  who  have  been  advanced  from  lower  to 
higher  levels  of  employment.  The  most  astonishing 
thing  is  the  aspect  of  these  women  workers.  They  give 
the  impression  of  being  well,  strong,  happy,  glad  to  be 
at  work  and  proud  of  their  achievement. 

Lloyd  George  says :  — 

And  these  women,  these  young  girls,  submit  cheerfully  to 
long  hours,  to  hard  work,  to  monotonous  work,  so  that  they 
may  "beat  the  Germans."  Many  of  the  firms  that  engage 
them  have  never  employed  women  before;  many  that  em- 

419 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

ployed  tens,  now  employ  hundreds  of  thousands.  The  change 
has  been  sudden. 

Lord  Haldane  told  me  an  illustrative  anecdote  of  a 
house-party  in  Scotland.  A  young  lady  excused  herself 
at  half-past  nine  o'clock.  Lord  Haldane  asked  her 
why  she  was  going  so  early.  She  said  she  was  on  the 
night  shift.  This  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  and 
noble  family,  was  working  nights  in  a  munition  factory. 

The  question  of  trade-unionism  for  women  is  immi- 
nent. Aside  from  household  servants  there  are  two 
and  a  half  million  women  workers  in  England,  and 
including  household  servants  there  are  five  and  a  half 
million;  but  to-day  there  are  only  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  women  in  trade-unions. 

The  change  in  labor  circles  is  extraordinary.  "This 
war  has  saved  trade-unionism,"  a  member  of  the  Min- 
istry said  yesterday.  A  new  motto  is  being  discussed, 
—  "The  greatest  possible  output  for  the  highest  pos- 
sible wages." 

Mr.  John  Hodge,  M.P.,  who  until  recently  was  act- 
ing chairman  of  the  Parliamentary  Labor  Party,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  courageous  labor 
leaders  in  the  country,  said  in  an  interview :  — ■ 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  policy  of  restriction  of  output 
which  many  trade-unionists  have  had  to  adopt  in  their  own 
defense  is  economically  quite  unsound,  and  we  must  make 
efforts  to  see  if  it  cannot  be  rendered  unnecessary  after  the 
war. 

The  most  authoritative  expression  of  labor  in  Eng- 
land was  made  at  the  Trade-Union  Congress  held  in 
Birmingham  early  in  September,  1916.  The  resolution 
was  offered  advising  the  meeting  of  representatives  of 
labor  from  all  countries  to  hold  sessions  at  the  same 

420 


ENGLAND 

time  as  the  meetings  of  the  belligerent  powers  to  deter- 
mine the  terms  of  peace.  By  a  vote  of  two  to  one  this 
Trade-Union  Congress  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
refused  to  consider  having  representatives  of  German 
labor  present. 

Both  in  England  and  in  France  Socialists  are  dis- 
cussing whether  or  not,  after  the  war,  they  will  resume 
relations  with  the  German  Socialists.  I  heard  the  man 
who  is  regarded  as  the  father  of  English  Socialism,  the 
head  of  the  socialistic  movement,  make  this  remark: 
"  In  time  perhaps  we  will  admit  the  German  Socialists 
into  the  international  organization,  but  not  on  the 
same  terms  as  formerly.  We  won't  let  them  try  to 
dominate  as  they  used  to;  they  will  have  a  much  hum- 
bler position."  This  state  of  mind  influences  the  prob- 
able length  of  the  war  and  the  terms  of  peace. 

There  are  now  no  unemployed  in  England.  One  of 
the  amazing  phenomena  of  the  war  is  the  demonstra- 
tion of  the  amount  of  unused  labor  resources  before 
the  war.  Nearly  eight  millions  of  people  are  directly 
occupied  on  the  war,  withdrawn  from  all  the  other 
fields  of  industry.  This  constitutes  what  might  be 
called  the  slack,  the  hitherto  unused  labor,  not  only 
in  the  number  of  workers,  but  in  the  amount  of  work 
each  one  does.  The  people  are  calm,  confident.  They 
have  willingly  mastered  the  various  problems,  they 
have  determined  lines  of  policy,  they  have  met  the 
various  possibilities  and  solved  them. 

The  determination  to  carry  the  war  to  a  safe  peace 
reaches  to  the  uttermost  element  of  the  people.  The 
awakening  has  changed  the  characteristics  of  all 
classes.  There  is  an  alertness,  a  respect  for  labor,  a 
rejuvenation.     To  mingle  with  these  people  is  like 

421 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

being  in  a  young,  booming  Western  town.  It  is  a  new 
England,  new  to  its  very  roots.  There  are  conventions 
and  meetings  and  discussions  in  the  newspapers  about 
education,  agriculture,  welfare  work  in  factories  and 
readjustment  of  the  rights  of  labor  to  have  a  greater 
share  of  profits.  Great  industries  like  the  manufactur- 
ing of  dyes  are  being  developed  in  such  fashion  as  to 
make  England  self-contained. 

I  have  talked  with  leading  American  and  English 
manufacturers,  labor  leaders,  merchants,  and  profes- 
sional men.  All  impress  me  with  a  sense  of  sureness 
and  competency  for  mastery  in  war  and  industry. 
"This  is  an  incredible  people,"  an  American  said  to 
me.  "Incredible  in  their  deliberation,  and  in  their 
determination,  and  above  all,  incredible  in  their 
achievement." 

England  has  loaned  the  Allies  four  billion  dollars; 
raised,  trained,  and  equipped  an  army  of  five  million 
men;  created  new  factories;  carried  on  military,  naval, 
and  mercantile  enterprises  all  over  the  world;  and  per- 
formed the  activities  of  peace,  with  half  her  usual  labor. 
Said  an  American  manufacturer,  who  has  great  works 
in  England:  "The  war  is  standardized  so  that  every- 
thing is  done  well,  and  the  nation  does  its  work  easily." 

Everywhere  I  traveled  in  England  I  saw  new  fac- 
tories being  built.  In  a  journey  of  three  hours  I  saw  six 
different  factories  of  great  extent  in  course  of  erection 
in  the  vicinity  of  towns  and  villages  where  there  were 
no  other  factories.  In  the  great  manufacturing  centers 
new  extensions  are  being  built.  All  these  new  factories 
are  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  munition  output. 

Although  the  manufacturing  ability  of  England  has 
been  greatly  increased,  both  by  greater  activity  on  the 

422 


ENGLAND 

part  of  workingmen  and  by  increased  facilities,  eighty 
per  cent  of  all  the  manufacturing  facilities  in  Great 
Britain  is  devoted  to  munitions  and  armaments. 

Over  a  million  men  are  working  on  land  for  the  navy. 
The  manufacture  of  aeroplanes  is  going  on  on  a  huge 
scale,  it  being  the  fixed  intention  of  England  to  extend 
her  navy  to  the  air,  and  secure  the  same  dominance  in 
the  air  as  she  has  on  the  sea. 

England  is  an  island  only  so  long  as  she  can  protect 
herself  against  air  raids,  sea  raids,  or  under-sea  raids. 
Therefore,  she  is  expending  enormous  sums  to  counter- 
act the  submarine  and  to  assure  the  complete  mastery 
of  the  air.  In  one  establishment  a  small  department 
had  been  devoted  to  aeroplanes,  and  they  have  in- 
creased their  facilities  so  as  to  produce  fourteen 
machines  a  week.  I  am  told  that  the  total  number 
of  aeroplanes  turned  out  daily  in  the  British  Isles  is 
considerably  over  fifty,  and  will  soon  approach  one 
hundred. 

One  of  the  establishments  I  visited  employed  ten 
thousand  people.  Seven  thousand  of  these  employees 
were  women.  It  was  a  small  portion  of  the  plant  of  a 
great  munition  concern. 

In  one  factory  it  was  almost  impossible  to  see  the 
boundary  wall  in  either  direction,  and  this  factory,  as 
big  as  several  city  blocks,  is  occupied  almost  solely  by 
women,  working  at  their  lathes,  producing  fuses.  There 
were  acres  and  acres  of  women  here  forming  an  insig- 
nificant portion  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
women  who  are  now  working  in  munition  factories. 

I  have  seen  shells  made  by  the  thousands  and  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  I  have  seen  orders  calling  for 
millions  of  shells.    In  the  manufacturing  of  the  fuse,  I 

423 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

was  told  that  over  one  hundred  different  gauges  were 
required.  There  is  no  more  delicate  piece  of  mechan- 
ism than  the  shell  fuse.  It  is  as  delicate  as  a  watch.  I 
saw  these  fuses  being  made  by  the  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands, mostly  by  women.  I  saw  shells,  from  the  small 
shell,  one-and-a-quarter  pounds  in  weight  when  loaded, 
to  shells  fifteen  inches  in  diameter. 

There  is  one  Government  munitions  works,  where 
they  deal  with  explosives,  that  is  twenty  miles  in 
length,  and  averages  four  miles  in  width.  Contracts 
for  munitions  are  being  made  by  the  Government  that 
will  require  five  years  to  fulfill. 

England  is  devoted  to  one  single  object;  that  is,  to 
waging  this  war.  There  is  a  continual  search  for  new 
men  of  military  competence.  There  is  talk  of  the  possi- 
bility of  raising  the  age  limit  to  forty-five.  A  writer  in 
the  v Times,"  speaking  of  Germany,  said  that,  if  neces- 
sary, Germany  would  extend  the  age  limit  from  sixteen 
to  sixty.  I  believe  that  in  another  year  generally  in 
the  warring  countries  the  limits  will  be  from  seventeen 
to  fifty.  This  war  differs  from  all  other  wars  in  that  it 
can  be  won  only  by  the  killing  of  the  enemy. 

If  the  Franco-Prussian  War  had  lasted  forty  years, 
the  German  losses  would  have  been  little  more  than 
they  have  been  from  these  two  years  of  war.  What  is 
true  of  Germany  is  true  of  the  other  powers.  There  is 
no  limit  to  the  use  of  shells  or  to  the  amount  of  artillery. 

I  have  seen  many  trainloads  of  English  soldiers  going 
to  the  front  and  many  trainloads  of  the  wounded  re- 
turning from  the  front.  I  have  seen  the  same  thing  in 
Germany  and  Austria,  and  always  I  have  been  amazed 
at  the  youthfulness  of  the  soldiers.  The  whole  youth 
of  Europe  from  the  age  of  eighteen  is  involved  in  this 

424 


ENGLAND 

overwhelming  catastrophe,  which  is  utterly  unlike  any 
previous  world-war. 

I  never  felt  so  fully  the  incredible  horror  of  this  war, 
where  the  young  women  and  men  beyond  military  age, 
aided  by  experts,  combine  in  every  country  to  produce 
the  most  terrible  weapons  of  destruction  to  kill  the 
youth  of  the  other  countries. 

In  other  matters  also  England  is  at  the  dawn.  It  is 
a  new  British  Empire,  and  there  are  great  problems 
involved  in  what  is  called  the  organization  of  the 
Empire. 

One  might  add  that  England  is  at  the  dawn  with 
regard  to  the  solution  of  the  Irish  question,  except  that 
every  one  recognizes  that  a  great  step  has  been  made 
by  the  coming  together  of  Carson  and  Redmond,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  recently  attempted  settlement. 

English  people  look  forward  to  the  solution  of  these 
questions  in  varying  moods  of  hopefulness  and  doubt. 
One  thing,  however,  can  be  said,  not  only  of  England 
but  of  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  that,  in  actual 
achievement,  the  human  race  does  things  better  than 
one  would  imagine  from  debates  in  Parliaments  or 
writings  and  speeches  by  reformers. 

England  is  at  the  dawn  because  all  the  people  have 
entered  upon  freedom.  The  barriers  of  caste  and  social 
strata  have  been  broken  down.  This  has  come  about  in 
part  because  the  salvation  of  the  nation  depended  upon 
extraordinary  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  workers  to 
produce  munitions  of  war. 

Lloyd  George  says :  — 

Among  all  the  changes  which  the  Great  War  has  brought 
in  its  train,  none  is  more  significant,  and  none  more  likely  to 

425 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

have  lasting  effect,  than  the  revolution  in  the  structure  of 
British  industry.  For  the  first  time  in  our  history  many 
firms  have  submitted  to  a  general  control  by  the  State; 
many  workers  have  desisted  from  the  endeavor  to  regulate 
the  supply  and  restrict  the  output  of  labor.  The  factories 
are  alive  with  new  workers ;  the  State  assumes  new  responsi- 
bilities; fresh  needs  and  opportunities  arise;  industrial  con- 
ditions are  in  solution. 

As  to  the  feeling  in  England  toward  France,  one 
could  say  in  one  word  that  there  is  between  these  two 
countries  a  union  of  feeling  and  of  interests  that  would 
seem  to  be  almost  as  close  as  between  England  and 
Canada,  or  England  and  Australia.  There  is  in  Eng- 
land unqualified  admiration  for  France,  just  as  uni- 
versal and  profound  as  the  unqualified  hatred  for 
Germany.  When  any  one  speaks  of  France  it  is  with  a 
change  of  voice  and  an  expression  of  extraordinary 
admiration  and  affection. 

England  and  France  are  absolutely  united  in  the 
determination  to  fight  until  the  military  situation  shall 
give  them  the  peace  terms  they  demand.  The  war  is  a 
thing  that  they  propose  to  put  through.  There  is  no 
thought  or  discussion  of  anything  but  going  on  to  a 
satisfactory  and  successful  issue.  The  unanimity  is 
profound  and  intense.  It  never  happened  before  in  the 
history  of  England,  such  a  unanimity.  The  same  is 
true  of  France,  the  same  is  true  of  Germany. 

Mr.  Asquith  said  August  5,  1916:  — 

We  face  the  third  year  of  the  war  with  an  ever-growing 
confidence  in  the  final  success  of  the  Allied  cause,  and  with  a 
resolution,  confirmed  by  each  illustration  of  German  law- 
lessness and  savagery,  to  fight  on  till  the  future  of  civiliza- 
tion is  established  on  the  firm  foundation  of  humanity,  jus- 
tice, and  freedom. 

426 


ENGLAND 

The  terms  of  peace  are  being  worked  out  under  the 
influence  of  the  states  of  mind  I  have  described.  Any 
one  who  knows  Germany  will  know  that  in  order  for 
France  to  get  back  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  the  situation 
will  have  to  be  very  different  from  what  it  is  at  the 
present  time,  and  yet  France  intends  to  go  on  and  on 
until  that  particular  measure  can  be  imposed.  There  is 
also  another  point.  The  Allies  propose  to  have  the 
greatest  assizes  in  human  history.  There  is  to  be  a  Day 
of  Judgment  at  the  Peace  Conference,  dealing  with  the 
great  mass  of  evidence  on  alleged  atrocities  collected 
by  the  French  and  the  English  Governments,  includ- 
ing such  outstanding  matters  as  the  assassination  of 
Captain  Fryatt,  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  and  the 
execution  of  Edith  Cavell. 

Speaking  on  April  27,  1916,  Mr.  Asquith  said:  — 

I  say  with  all  emphasis  and  with  all  deliberation,  when  we 
come  to  an  end  of  this  war,  —  which  please  God  we  may, — 
we  shall  not  forget,  and  we  ought  not  to  forget,  this  horrible 
record  of  calculated  cruelty  and  crime;  and  we  shall  hold  it 
to  be  our  duty  to  exact  such  reparation  against  those  who 
are  proved  to  have  been  the  guilty  agents  and  actors  in  the 
matter  as  it  may  be  possible  for  us  to  do. 

And  again  on  August  4,  1916:  — 

There  is  one  feature  in  the  later  developments  of  the  ene- 
mies' methods  which  seems  on  the  face  to  my  mind  to  indi- 
cate a  sense  of  desperation.  I  mean  the  recrudescence  of 
deliberate  and  calculated  barbarity.  The  Belgian  civil  popu- 
lation who  refuse  to  work  to  maintain  and  improve  the  mili- 
tary position  of  their  invaders  tind  oppressors  are  literally 
being  treated  like  slaves.  The  horrors  of  the  recent  deporta- 
tion of  large  numbers  of  civilians  in  Lille  and  the  other  towns 
of  Northern  France,  the  midnight  raids  upon  private  dwell- 
ings, the  wholesale  abduction  of  women  and  girls  —  that  is 

4<27 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

a "story  which,  when  it  comes  to  be  fully  written,  will  be 
found  to  blacken  even  the  besmirched  annals  of  the  German 
army. 

The  first  week  in  September  might  be  called  "Zep- 
pelin week"  in  England,  where  people  occupying  an 
area  of  over  a  thousand  square  miles  were  able  to  see 
the  destruction  of  the  Zeppelin  that  fell  near  Cuffley. 
Probably  over  a  million  people  saw  this  sight,  as  the 
guns  had  wakened  almost  every  one,  and  over  the 
entire  area  people  cheered.  On  the  Thames  ships  blew 
their  whistles.  Some  one  said  it  was  like  a  New  Year's 
night.  This  Zeppelin  fell  in  a  field  on  the  very  edge 
of  a  village,  from  which  one  got  a  marvelous  view  of 
the  most  beautiful  rural  scenery,  the  Zeppelin  having 
fallen  on  the  hillside. 

I  was  present  at  the  funeral  of  the  Zeppelin  crew 
given  by  English  airmen.  Crowds  of  people,  extending 
for  miles  along  the  road  into  the  village,  had  turned 
out  to  see  this  funeral,  and  just  as  the  great  lorries, 
bearing  the  coffins,  covered  with  a  black  cloth,  reached 
the  cemetery,  a  woman  threw  an  egg.  This  was 
deeply  resented  by  all  the  people  and  the  woman  was 
arrested  and  taken  to  the  police  station. 

A  single  grave  had  been  dug  for  the  commander  of 
the  Zeppelin  at  the  end  of  a  long  grave  dug  for  the 
other  fifteen  airmen,  and  the  funeral  service  was  first 
read  over  the  commander,  who  was  referred  to  as  "this 
unknown  German  officer,"  and  then  the  service  was 
read  over  the  other  fifteen,  who  were  referred  to  as 
"these  unknown  German  airmen."  There  were  about 
two  hundred  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  who  had  charge 
of  the  funeral,  and  as  these  young  men  stood  to  atten- 
tion during  the  funeral,  I  realized  for  the  first  time  the 

428 


ENGLAND 

character  and  the  quality  of  the  airmen.  They  were 
youths  from  nineteen  to  twenty-three  or  twenty-four. 
They  were  drawn  largely  from  the  great  public  schools 
of  England.  They  gave  an  impression  not  only  of 
extraordinary  physical  fitness,  but  of  detachment  from 
ordinary  human  affairs.  They  seemed  of  a  superior 
breed  who  had  come  from  some  greater  race;  they 
stood  there  detached  and  remote. 

The  airmen  of  the  belligerents  have  retained  the 
older  professional  ideas  of  chivalry.  On  the  way  back 
to  London  the  compartment  I  was  in  was  filled  with 
the  wives  of  workingmen  whom  interest  or  curiosity 
had  brought  to  the  funeral.  They  spoke  of  experi- 
ences of  their  neighbors  or  friends  with  the  Zeppelins. 
They  were  indignant  at  the  woman  who  had  thrown 
an  egg.  They  said  the  members  of  the  Zeppelin  crew 
had  only  obeyed  the  orders  of  their  Government.  Then 
they  talked  of  their  poor  mothers  and  wives  in  Ger- 
many. They  discussed  the  ethics  of  Zeppelin  raids. 
Some  thought  they  were  legal  and  proper,  while  others 
thought  they  were  illegal.  One  woman,  evidently  of 
a  higher  class,  stated  that  it  was  quite  right  so  long  as 
only  property  was  destroyed,  but  if  civilians  were 
killed,  it  was  illegal.  She  herself  had  suffered  the  loss 
of  a  house,  but  she  felt  that  the  Germans  were  within 
their  rights  in  destroying  it. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

GERMANY 

Impressions  of  a  Visit  in  the  Early  Months  of  1916 

One  is  surprised  at  the  unanimity  of  the  German  peo- 
ple in  regard  to  certain  fundamental  questions,  until 
one  reflects  that  such  unanimity  is  a  very  general 
phenomenon. 

In  1860  and  1861  millions  of  men  believed  so 
strongly  in  States'  rights  as  to  enter  upon  and  carry 
on  a  four  years'  war,  and  millions  of  them  believed 
so  strongly  in  the  union  of  the  States  and  the  sup- 
pression of  slavery  as  to  do  the  same  thing.  Members 
of  political  parties  for  long  periods  hold  identical 
beliefs. 

So  there  is  no  mystery  or  marvel  in  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  people  in  Germany,  or  England,  or  France. 
Some  months  ago  a  writer  in  the  London  "Times" 
spoke  of  the  German  people  as  being  in  a  manner 
hypnotized,  and  accounted  for  their  unanimity  by 
the  influence  of  the  press.  It  is  unnecessary  to  re- 
gard the  people  as  hypnotized.  One  sees  similar 
phenomena  in  all  human  society. 

So,  when  I  give  the  views  held  by  the  German  peo- 
ple, I  do  not  describe  a  unique  condition.  I  spent 
most  of  the  time  between  January  6  and  April  26, 1916, 
in  Germany,  and  I  met  and  talked  with  hundreds  of 
people,  —  officers,  university  professors,  their  wives 
and  daughters  and  sons,  business  men,  journalists, 
government   officials,    including   the   most   powerful 

430 


GERMANY 

members  of  the  Reichstag, — people  in  all  walks  of  life. 
I  found  the  beliefs  and  feelings  of  all  either  identical 
or  very  similar.  I  shall  tell  here  what  the  German 
people  hold  as  their  most  fixed  and  profound  convic- 
tions and  beliefs.  First,  there  is  the  most  complete 
assurance  of  victory  in  this  war,  and  among  the  best 
informed  is  the  absolute  belief  that  the  war  is  already 
won.  Secondly,  there  is  the  absolute  belief  that  Ger- 
many is  in  no  way  the  aggressor,  but  the  victim  of 
aggression  in  this  war;  that  Germany  wanted  no  war, 
but  that  war  was  wantonly  and  wickedly  forced  upon 
Germany. 

This  being  their  settled  conviction,  they  all  feel 
that  the  request  of  the  German  Government  for  a 
peaceful  passage  through  Belgium  was  reasonable 
and  right,  and  that  Belgium's  refusal,  combined  with 
the  negotiations,  during  previous  years,  between  cer- 
tain officials  in  Belgium  and  certain  British  military 
officials,  justifies  their  course  in  regard  to  Belgium.  I 
have  met  no  one  who  does  not  feel  that  Belgium,  or 
rather  the  Government  of  Belgium,  is  responsible  for 
her  woes,  and  that  in  this  war  Germany  and  not  Bel- 
gium has  cause  for  complaint.  They  feel  absolutely 
justified  in  treating  Belgium  as  an  enemy,  conquered 
country,  and  justify  their  tax  of  $96,000,000  a  year 
to  support  the  army  of  occupation  as  legal  and  just 
according  to  the  laws  of  The  Hague. 

Every  one  I  have  talked  to  is  surprised  and  hurt 
at  the  attitude  of  the  majority  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, and  believes  that  the  Americans  have  been  mis- 
informed and  misled  by  British  intrigue.  Above  all 
they  are  surprised  by  Mr.  Roosevelt's  position  in  this 
war.    "He,"  they  say,  "has  been  in  Germany;  he  has 

431 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

met  our  Kaiser;  he  knows  our  institutions;  why  did 
he  make  up  his  mind  without  learning  the  German 
side?" 

Herr  Zimmermann,  then  Permanent  Under-Secre- 
tary of  State  (now  Foreign  Minister) ,  asked  this  ques- 
tion at  my  very  first  interview  with  him.  I  answered 
that  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  the  mass  of  American  people 
did  not  make  up  their  minds  on  account  of  argu- 
ments advanced  by  the  enemies:  of  Germany.  I  said 
it  was  "Belgium,  Lusitania,  Scrap  of  Paper." 

"We  offered  to  pay  Belgium  for  all  the  damage 
our  passing  through  would  cause,"  he  said.  "We  made 
the  offer  twice.  If  the  old  king  had  been  living,"  he 
continued,  with  a  smile,  "he  would  have  accepted  our 
offer  —  but  he  would  have  charged  double. 

"We  were  attacked  suddenly  on  all  sides,  our  very 
life  was  at  stake,  we  only  asked  permission  to  defend 
ourselves. 

"As  to  the  'Scrap  of  Paper,'  what  our  Government 
meant  was  that,  on  account  of  Belgium's  situation 
and  her  negotiations  with  other  powers,  the  treaty  of 
neutrality  had  become  a  scrap  of  paper. 

"And  the  Lusitania?  Why,  we  warned  the  Ameri- 
cans not  to  sail  on  her.  What  more  could  we  have 
done?  She  was  loaded  with  ammunition  to  kill  our 
soldiers.  We  are  sorry  for  the  poor  people  who  were 
drowned,  but  it  was  our  duty  to  protect  our  sol- 
diers." 

I  replied  that  it  was  not  the  violation  of  interna- 
tional law  that  caused  the  attitude  of  the  American 
people  in  the  Lusitania  case,  but  the  natural,  instinc- 
tive horror  that  is  deeper  and  more  unchangeable  than 
law. 

432 


GERMANY 

Herr  Zimmermann  is  worthy  of  a  special  study  him- 
self. He  is  a  man  of  energy  and  mental  alertness,  a 
tremendous  worker.  He  gives  the  impression  of 
masterfulness,  of  absolute  intellectual  integrity.  He 
possesses  charm  in  a  marked  degree.  Of  his  basic  sin- 
cerity, intellectual  and  moral,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
He  wins  in  a  high  degree,  affection,  confidence,  and 
respect.  Dr.  Zimmermann  has  spent  his  life  in  govern- 
ment service.  He  is  a  self-made  man  in  the  best  sense. 
In  the  Far  East  he  won  distinction  as  a  consul.  His 
services  secured  him  a  place  in  the  Foreign  Office  and 
he  ultimately  became  permanent  Under-Secretary  of 
State.  Recently  he  was  appointed  Foreign  Minister. 
Herr  Zimmermann  used  every  day  to  meet  the  news- 
paper correspondents.  His  personality  secured  for  him 
great  friendliness  on  the  part  of  the  newspaper  men 
and  others  with  whom  he  dealt.  He  has  had  no  ex- 
perience in  the  great  world  outside  of  government 
service. 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  is  a  man  of  wide  and  profound  intellec- 
tual interests,  a  lover  of  literature,  in  international 
politics  a  pacifist.  His  basic  principle  in  international 
affairs  was  to  compose  the  differences  with  England. 
I  know  of  no  public  man  in  any  country  whose  words 
command  more  complete  belief  than  his.  He  has  the 
supreme  confidence  of  the  German  people  for  absolute 
honesty  and  rectitude.  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  en- 
tire life  has  been  spent  in  government.  He  began  as 
so  many  officials  begin,  in  a  humble  capacity  in  city 
government.  He  advanced  until  he  became  Prussian 
Minister  of  the  Interior.  This  office  has  for  one  of  its 
most  important  fields  a  general  oversight  of  city  gov- 

433 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

ernments.  He  was  a  fellow  student  with  the  present 
Emperor  of  Germany  at  Bonn.  He  has  had  no  ex- 
perience in  the  world  of  industry  or  finance. 

I  spent  a  memorable  day  in  Jena,  visiting  Professor 
Rudolph  Eucken,  meeting  his  wife  and  daughter  also. 
I  was  the  guest  of  Professor  Wendt,  Professor  of 
Theology  in  the  University  of  Jena,  author  of  many 
books,  including  a  great  work  on  the  teachings  of 
Jesus,  published  also  in  England.  Frau  Wendt  is  a 
sister  of  Professor  von  Schultze-Gavernitz.  She  is  a 
woman  of  singular  sweetness  and  goodness.  It  would 
be  hard  to  find  gentler  or  more  lovable  people  than 
those  I  visited  at  Jena.  Professor  Eucken's  books 
have  been  published  in  many  countries,  including 
Japan.  He  has  retired  from  active  work,  but  many 
decades  of  students  have  been  under  his  influence, 
and  he  is  loved  and  honored  by  thousands  in  many 
countries. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  this  man,  as  he  talked  with 
a  great  burden  of  sorrow  and  feeling  of  intolerable 
misunderstanding.  He  spoke  with  especial  sorrow  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  views,  and  as  he  talked,  his  hands 
opened  and  closed  nervously,  his  face,  vivid  and  gentle, 
flushed.  He  said  he  had  talked  hours  with  Mr.  Roose- 
velt, going  back  in  history,  and  had  enjoyed  him 
immensely. 

"Why  did  n't  Mr.  Roosevelt  learn  the  truth  about 
our  side?"  he  asked.  "We  had  many  problems  to 
solve,  social  and  religious.  All  we  wanted  was  peace 
to  work  out  our  problems.  Our  Emperor  did  not  want 
to  hurt  Belgium.  We  were  attacked  on  all  sides  and 
we  had  to  protect  our  country.  Why  did  Americans 
want  to  travel  on  a  ship  that  was  bringing  ammuni- 

434 


GERMANY 

tion  to  kill  our  soldiers?  Our  Emperor  always  worked 
for  peace." 

The  next  day  Professor  Eucken  took  me  around  the 
town  and  through  the  university,  showing  me  the 
house  where  the  young  Schiller  prepared  the  thesis 
that  secured  him  his  professorship;  the  various  houses 
where  Goethe  lived  when  he  made  brief  residences  in 
Jena;  the  cathedral  which  began  as  a  Catholic  struc- 
ture and  ended  as  a  Protestant  church,  in  which 
Luther  preached;  also  a  hotel  that  bore  the  inscrip- 
tions: "Luther  1532,  Bismarck  1892." 

There  is  a  street  called  Humboldtstrasse,  where 
Humboldt  lived.  Haeckel  lives  in  Jena  —  an  old  man 
—  retired.  Hegel  and  Fichte  taught  in  the  univer- 
sity. A  professor  of  mathematics,  Professor  Abbe,  was 
the  founder  and  owner  of  the  great  Zeiss  Works, 
where  the  best  lenses  are  made.  These  works  employ 
five  thousand  men,  and,  with  the  university,  make  the 
life  of  this  town  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  inhabitants. 

When  Professor  Abbe  died,  after  doing  much  for 
this  town  and  university,  he  gave  his  great  business 
to  the  university,  so  that  the  University  of  Jena  is 
large  and  prosperous.  Ordinarily  there  are  two  thou- 
sand students  attending  the  university,  young  women 
as  well  as  young  men.  Now  there  are  only  twelve  hun- 
dred, many  being  in  the  war.  There  are  sixty  thousand 
German  students  in  the  war.  Professor  Eucken 
showed  me  the  lists  on  one  of  the  walls  of  the  students 
killed  since  August,  1914.  There  were  over  two  hun- 
dred, and  every  week  added  to  the  list.  This  univer- 
sity town,  with  its  interest  so  remote  from  the  world 
of  affairs,  had  the  same  spirit  and  mind  that  I  found 
in  Hamburg,  Berlin,  Mannheim,  and  Frankfort. 

435 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Among  the  many  people  I  met  was  Herr  Deutsch, 
chairman  of  the  A.E.G.  (the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany of  Germany),  a  great  industrial  concern  with 
branches  in  many  countries.  Herr  Deutsch  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  in  Europe. 

"This  is  a  war,"  he  said,  "between  the  principle 
of  competition  as  practiced  in  business  and  commerce 
in  England,  and  cooperation  as  practiced  in  Germany. 
We  must  win,  for  we  are  so  organized  as  to  use  all  our 
forces  and  resources.  I  cannot  understand  America. 
This  is  a  war  between  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many. It  is  the  ammunition  and  supplies  you  send 
that  enable  our  enemies  to  fight,"  he  said. 

Almost  every  one  I  met  who  had  suffered  by  having 
relatives  either  killed  or  wounded  believed  that  it  was 
American  shells  that  did  the  work. 

To-day,  the  military  and  political  chiefs  of  Ger- 
many believe  that  this  war  must  be  decided  on  the 
sea,  not  by  destroying  Great  Britain's  navy,  but  by 
crippling  her  commercial  fleet  to  such  an  extent  that 
she  cannot  get  food. 

"Great  Britain  imports  five  sixths  of  her  food.  Her 
supplies  are  lower  than  ever  before  in  her  history.  Our 
desultory  submarine  warfare  has  already  destroyed 
six  per  cent  of  her  mercantile  tonnage.  If  we  could  use 
our  submarines  freely,  in  six  or  seven  weeks  our  new 
submarines  would  starve  England  into  submission." 

These  were  the  words  of  one  who  is  regarded  as  the 
foremost  authority  on  the  economics  of  submarine 
warfare. 

This  is  Germany's  hope.  The  position  of  the 
American  Government  is  the  only  obstacle  or  hin- 
drance to  her  free  use  of  submarines.   "  Germany  must 

436 


GERMANY 

win.  She  must  reach  England.  She  has  the  new  and 
potent  weapon.  Lives  will  be  lost,  but  in  the  long  run 
fewer  than  by  a  prolonged  war." 

The  German  people  believe  that  if  war  must  be, 
then  let  it  be  so  terrible  as  to  end  soon. 

Such  is  the  reasoning  of  the  leaders  of  Germany  and 
such  is  the  belief  of  the  German  people. 

In  talking  with  an  expert  on  submarine  economics, 
I  said  I  wanted  to  write  an  article  on  "Why  Germany 
expects  to  win  the  war." 

"Germany  does  n't  expect  to  win  the  war,"  he  re- 
plied.  "The  war  is  won,  and  the  English  Government 
knows  that  we  have  won  it." 

I  will  close  this  study  of  Germany  with  an  episode 
that  was  characteristic  of  a  wish  I  found  everywhere. 

I  was  in  Grodno,  Russia,  at  the  headquarters  of 
the  Twelfth  German  Army,  February  16,  1916,  with 
other  newspaper  correspondents.  I  was  the  oldest 
man  among  the  correspondents.  I  had  that  day  had 
my  first  flight  in  an  aeroplane,  and  further  was  on  the 
eve  of  my  birthday,  and  so  at  a  banquet  with  perhaps 
a  hundred  officers,  the  General  in  Command  took 
occasion  to  address  some  pleasant  words  to  me.  In 
responding  I  closed  with  a  toast  to  Germany  (ap- 
plause); to  America  (applause);  to  England.  There 
came  a  moment  of  silence.  (I  had  mentioned  this 
toast  with  a  certain  dread.)  I  concluded  with  the  hope 
that  these  great  nations  and  their  allies  will  combine 
together  to  advance  human  civilization .  The  expression 
of  this  hope  was  received  with  tremendous  applause. 

Throughout  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  I  found 
everywhere  the  desire  to  end  the  war  and  to  establish 
good  relations  with  England. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

TURKEY 

I  arrived  in  Hamburg  January  6, 1916.  Hamburg  was 
the  only  dead  city  I  saw  in  Germany.  The  Atlantic 
Hotel,  the  Waldorf-Astoria  of  Hamburg,  was  almost 
deserted.  But  there  was  a  great  deal  of  literature 
scattered  about  in  this  hotel  —  books,  pamphlets,  and 
periodicals  dealing  with  Constantinople  and  Turkey. 
Germany  had  secured  control  of  the  through  route  to 
Turkey  and  the  splendid  dream  of  the  Orient  filled  all 
minds. 

At  8  o'clock  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  January,  I 
started  for  Berlin.  It  was  raining.  As  I  looked  out  of 
the  window  I  saw  two  rows  of  children,  one  girls,  the 
other  boys,  entering  a  large  building,  and  it  suddenly 
flashed  on  my  mind  that  the  children  of  Europe  were 
going  to  school  as  before  the  war.  Much  of  the  life 
and  activities  of  civilization  were  unchanged;  and  es- 
pecially all  that  concerned  the  childhood  of  the  race. 
Already  I  saw  men  ploughing.  Mother  Earth,  too, 
was  unchanged. 

Through  the  great  courtesy  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment, which  secured  for  me  also  permission  from  the 
Governments  of  Austria-Hungary,  Bulgaria,  and 
Turkey,  I  was  able  to  travel  from  Berlin  to  Constan- 
tinople. The  military  authorities  gave  permission  to 
my  friend  Professor  von  Schultze-Gavernitz,  to  accom- 
pany me  in  his  military  capacity  as  a  lieutenant. 

So  on  March  1,  1916,  we  embarked  on  the  Balkan- 

438 


TURKEY 

zug  for  Constantinople.  The  departure  of  this  semi- 
weekly  train  from  either  Berlin  or  Constantinople  is 
an  event  comparable  to  the  sailing  of  an  ocean  steamer. 
There  are  always  people  of  importance  and  fame  on  the 
train,  distinguished  soldiers  and  officials,  and  their 
friends  come  to  see  them  off.  Our  first  important  stop 
was  at  Breslau,  where  three  noted  women,  cousins  of 
Von  Schultze-Gavernitz,  came  to  see  us.  These  wo- 
men were  at  the  head  of  the  organizations  to  care  for 
the  health  and  well-being  of  the  children  of  Breslau, 
and  help  solve  the  problems  caused  by  war  in  the  in- 
dustrial life  of  the  city.  They  wore  little  flags  of 
Turkey.  "Our  allies,"  they  said.  The  husband  of  one 
of  these  women  was  a  Frenchman  —  an  officer  of  the 
French  army.  The  husband  of  another  was  a  surgeon 
with  the  German  forces  at  Verdun.  "He  writes  me 
that  it  is  just  a  hell,"  she  said. 

In  the  afternoon,  soon  after  entering  Austria,  we 
stopped  some  minutes  at  Oderberg.  On  an  adjoining 
track  was  a  long  freight  train,  the  cars  filled  with  men, 
women,  and  children.  "Refugees  from  the  battle  front 
in  Galicia,"  we  were  told,  "  on  their  way  to  Bohemia." 
The  open  door  of  each  freight  car  was  crowded  with 
as  many  of  the  inmates  as  could  look  out.  The  men 
looked  a  little  anxious,  the  women  looked  serious  and 
patient.  The  children  and  babies  were  quiet  and  un- 
smiling, the  babies  like  wilted  flowers.  They  neither 
complained  nor  asked  for  anything.  I  gave  a  little  girl 
of  about  five  a  piece  of  money.  She  quickly  grasped  my 
hand  and  kissed  it,  but  there  was  no  smile  and  no  word, 
and  none  of  the  others  asked  for  anything.  They  had 
lost  their  homes  and  their  living.  For  days  and  nights 
they  had  been  traveling  in  the  winter  weather,  in  cold 

439 


OBSTACLES  TO   PEACE 

freight  cars  under  harsh  conditions,  but  their  situation 
was  fortunate  compared  to  that  of  the  several  millions 
of  men,  women,  and  children  who  had  been  driven 
from  their  homes  in  Courland,  Poland,  Servia,  and 
Asia  Minor,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  to  perish 
miserably,  without  shelter  or  food  or  human  pity. 

There  came  to  my  mind,  as  I  saw  these  little  ones, 
Mrs.  Browning's  poem,  "The  Cry  of  the  Children," 
—  the  cry  of  the  children  in  Armenia,  Servia,  Poland, 
and  Belgium.  — 

They  look  up  with  their  pale  and  sunken  faces, 

And  their  looks  are  sad  to  see, 
For  the  man's  hoary  anguish  draws  and  presses 

Down  the  cheeks  of  infancy;  .   .   . 

They  look  up  with  their  pale  and  sunken  faces, 

And  their  look  is  dread  to  see, 
For  they  mind  you  of  their  angels  in  high  places, 

With  eyes  turned  on  Deity. 
"How  long,"  they  say,  "how  long,  O  cruel  nation, 

Will  you  stand,  to  move  the  world,  on  a  child's  heart,  — 
Stifle  down  with  a  mailed  heel  its  palpitation, 

And  tread  onward  to  your  throne  amid  the  mart? 
Our  blood  splashes  upward,  O  gold-heaper, 

And  your  purple  shows  your  path! 
But  the  child's  sob  in  the  silence  curses  deeper 

Than  the  strong  man  in  his  wrath!" 

When  I  awoke  the  next  morning,  Thursday,  March  2, 
it  was  to  a  bright  day  with  gleaming  water  by  our 
side,  —  the  Danube,  —  and  just  across  the  river  on 
its  little  plateau  the  city  of  Belgrade,  beautiful  in  sit- 
uation and  famous  in  history  for  wars  and  sieges. 
When  we  crossed  the  river,  on  the  temporary  bridge, 
we  saw  the  usual  effects  of  shells  and  fires  in  destroyed 
buildings,  on  the  bottom  lands,  the  city  on  the  heights 

440 


TURKEY 

revealing  fewer  tragedies  from  our  viewpoint.  All  day 
we  traveled  through  Servia.  Spring  cultivation  there 
was  far  behind  that  in  Belgium  and  Germany.  All  the 
bridges  were  destroyed,  in  many  cases  even  the  great 
steel  structures  which  had  carried  the  track  of  the 
Orient  Express  of  former  days.  All  the  way  from  Ber- 
lin to  Constantinople  we  saw  soldiers  guarding  the 
railway,  but  in  Servia  every  bridge  and  tunnel,  and 
many  other  places,  were  guarded  by  little  trench  forts. 

I  was  interested  to  meet  on  the  train  an  educated 
young  Turk  who  had  been  Turkey's  representative  at 
the  International  Agricultural  Institute  established  by 
David  Lubin  in  Rome,  under  the  patronage  of  the 
King  of  Italy.  He  was  returning  to  help  in  the  modern- 
izing of  Turkey. 

But  the  most  important  to  me  of  the  travelers  I  met 
on  this  journey  was  Dr.  Jaeckh,  an  expert  on  the  whole 
industrial  and  economic  life  and  possibilities  of  Turkey. 

From  him  I  first  got  knowledge  of  the  treaty  which 
had  been  about  to  be  consummated  between  England 
and  Germany  when  war  came.  This  was  the  document 
that  I  needed  to  explain  many  things  that  were  vague 
or  only  partly  understood  by  me.  I  knew  that  England 
and  Germany  had  made  great  progress  in  removing 
the  causes  of  irritation  that  for  more  than  a  decade  had 
threatened  the  peace  of  Europe.  I  knew  that  both 
England  and  Germany  had  wanted  peace  in  July,  1914; 
but  among  the  obscurities  that  bothered  me  were  — 
first,  why  was  Austria  so  sharp  and  uncompromising 
in  her  demands  on  Servia;  and  second,  just  what  had 
been  the  situation  of  Anglo-German  relations.  Both 
in  Parliament  and  in  the  Reichstag  it  was  stated 
authoritatively  that  England  and  Germany  had  worked 

441 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

together  to  preserve  the  peace  of  Europe  during  the 
two  Balkan  wars;  but  I  could  get  no  definite  frame- 
work of  the  actual  facts  that  lay  at  the  basis  of  this 
cooperation. 

Dr.  Jaeckh,  however,  had  helped  prepare  the  treaty 
of  June,  1914,  which  is  described  in  Chapter  III,  which 
had  been  agreed  to  through  the  negotiations  between 
the  two  countries,  and  which  had  been  initialed  and 
ready  for  formal  signature.  And  he  told  me  the  terms 
of  this  treaty. 

Friday  evening  we  reached  Constantinople.  A  great 
crowd  of  people  welcomed  the  train,  the  arrival  of 
which  twice  weekly  is  an  event  even  in  this  great  city. 

I  found  a  Constantinople  new  in  many  ways.  No 
dogs,  paved  streets,  electric  street-cars,  a  fine  new 
bridge  over  the  Golden  Horn,  electric  lights,  tele- 
phones, and  a  vivacity  and  activity  on  the  streets 
excelling  those  of  any  city  I  had  seen  in  all  my  recent 
travels  in  Europe.  Here  was  the  genuine  mingling  of 
the  races  of  men.  Every  costume  of  the  desert,  and  of 
the  dwellers  in  the  Orient  was  here,  and  many,  many 
soldiers,  sailors  and  officers,  Turks,  Germans,  and 
Austrians.  A  city  of  a  million  and  a  half,  in  the  most 
beautiful  situation  of  any  city  in  the  world,  picturesque, 
with  the  splendor  and  color  of  the  East  and  an  infusion 
of  the  energy  and  a  sprinkling  of  the  architecture  of 
the  West,  half-conscious  of  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  — 
such  is  Constantinople  to  the  eye. 

Constantinople  is  a  triple  city,  the  European  city 
being  divided  by  the  Golden  Horn  into  Stamboul  and 
Galatea,  and  the  third  part,  Scutari,  lying  in  Asia 
across  the  Bosphorus. 

When  I  was  in  Constantinople  in  March,  1916, 

442 


TURKEY 

Talaat  Bey  held  three  or  four  portfolios  in  the  Govern- 
ment including  the  portfolio  of  war.  He  is  now  Grand 
Vizier.  Neither  his  predecessor  in  the  viziership  nor 
the  Sultan  were  of  any  importance  in  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment at  that  time,  and  then  as  now  Talaat  Bey  was 
the  absolute  dictator  of  Turkey.  I  had  two  interviews 
with  him. 

Talaat  Bey  looks  strong  and  powerful.  He  is  like  a 
great  American  political  boss,  only  if  he  were  an  Ameri- 
can boss  he  would  be  the  king  of  bosses.  He  sits  strong, 
faces  you  directly,  speaks  with  simplicity  and  decision. 
His  bearing  is  genial  and  large.  At  the  beginning  of  our 
first  interview  some  one  handed  him  a  letter.  With  one 
hand  he  tore  off  the  end  of  the  envelope,  took  out  the 
enclosure,  and  threw  the  empty  envelope  on  the  floor, 
glanced  a  moment  at  the  letter,  and  gave  instructions 
to  the  bearer.  All  these  things  were  done  with  extra- 
ordinary speed,  and  yet  without  the  impression  of 
hurry.   He  is  a  born  master-executive. 

No  other  ruler  of  to-day  possesses  his  absolute  au- 
thority. The  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  every  in- 
habitant of  Turkey  are  in  his  hands.  I  asked  him  why 
the  Armenians  were  removed  with  such  cruelties.  He 
replied  that  some  of  the  officials  were  not  angels,  and 
that  15,000  or  20,000  Armenians  had  been  killed;  but 
that  he  had  sent  out  commissions  to  investigate  those 
cruelties  and  that  he  would  punish  the  guilty  officials. 
The  fate  of  the  Armenians  has  been  in  his  hands  for 
more  than  two  years.  After  seeing  the  leading  men  of 
the  Central  Powers,  I  should  say  that  Talaat  Bey  is 
the  strongest  man  between  Berlin  and  hell. 

Among  the  notables  I  met  in  Constantinople  was 
the  Grand  Vizier.    I  said  to  him  that  Turkey  was  at 

443 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  dawn,  that  her  resources  were  far  less  developed 
than  those  of  even  the  United  States,  and  that  Turkey 
and  England  were  among  the  oldest  countries  in 
Europe. 

''Yes,"  he  said.  "But  you  cannot  compare  England 
to  Turkey.  England  has  had  no  such  glorious  history 
as  Turkey.    What  was  England  three  centuries  ago?" 

"This  is  a  wonderful  city,"  I  said. 

"The  finest  in  the  world,"  he  replied.  "  That  is  why 
they  all  want  it.  That  is  why  we  have  to  fight  to  keep 
it." 

"There  was  some  talk,"  I  said,  "of  removing  the 
capital  into  Asia  Minor." 

"Pouf!  Why  should  we?  This  is  the  best  place.  We 
are  here  between  Europe  and  Asia.  Over  there  is 
Asia."  And  he  gave  a  gesture  with  his  left  hand  as  one 
might  say,  "Over  there  is  my  automobile." 

In  the  guard-room,  at  the  entrance  to  the  palace  of 
the  Grand  Vizier,  I  noticed  a  splendid-looking  officer 
in  charge  of  the  guard  —  a  regular  young  D'Artagnan. 
I  learned  that  he  was  a  Kurd.  He  told  us  of  three  wars 
he  had  been  in,  including  recent  fighting  at  the  Suez 
Canal;  and  he  bore  marks  of  fighting  and  wore  orders 
earned  by  bravery. 

I  said  to  him,  "I've  heard  terrible  things  about  your 
people." 

He  became  very  serious  and  answered  me  by  saying 
that  his  people  had  no  chance;  that  the  Kurds  were 
far  from  the  culture  of  Europe,  surrounded  by  bar- 
barians,—  such  as  Russians  and  Anatolians,  —  but 
that  now  they  would  have  better  opportunities. 

Another  Turkish  officer  spoke  with  great  pride  of 
Turkey's  military  achievements,  especially  at  Galli- 

444 


TURKEY 

poli.  "We  have  been  more  successful  than  any  other 
nation  in  this  war.  We  have  done  most  of  the  fighting. 
We  saved  Germany." 

The  Grand  Vizier  was  right.  The  situation  of  Con- 
stantinople is  unique.  But  it  is  this  very  situation  that 
makes  its  possession  the  apple  of  Paris  among  the 
nations  of  Europe.  Constantinople  controls  the  exit  of 
most  of  Russia's  exports,  just  as  New  Orleans,  in  the 
hands  of  Spain,  more  than  a  century  ago,  controlled 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  through  which  at  that 
time  three  eighths  of  our  exports  must  pass  to  the  sea. 

Russia  is  young,  and  her  agriculture  is  primitive, 
yet  she  produces  one  fifth  of  the  world's  wheat,  one 
fourth  each  of  the  world's  potatoes  and  oats,  nearly  a 
third  each  of  the  world's  beet-sugar  and  barley,  and 
more  than  half  of  the  world's  rye.  At  the  present  time 
her  greatest  sources  of  wealth  —  coal,  oil,  and  agri- 
culture —  are  in  the  regions  tributary  to  the  Black 
Sea.  All  the  huge  exports  from  this  region  must  pass 
through  the  Bosphorus,  which  is  about  as  wide  at 
Constantinople  as  the  Hudson  River  is  at  New  York 
City.  The  unhindered  use  of  this  trade  route  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  Russia,  and  that  Russia  should  have 
it  is  very  important  to  the  world.  The  closing  of  the 
Bosphorus  increases  greatly  the  price  of  wheat  in  the 
world's  markets. 

In  a  little  over  two  hundred  years  Russia  has  waged 
ten  wars  against  Turkey. 

To  make  the  situation  of  Russia  more  vivid  I  will 
take  a  chapter  from  the  history  of  our  own  country. 
In  1786,  Jay,  who  was  trying  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with 
the  first  Spanish  Minister  to  the  United  States,  re- 
ported to  Congress,  after  long  and  fruitless  negotia- 

445 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

tions,  that  our  right  to  use  the  Mississippi  would  have 
to  be  secured  "by  arms  or  by  treaty." 

In  a  recent  book,  on  "America's  Foreign  Relations" 
(Century  Co.,  1916),  Willis  Fletcher  Johnson,  of  New 
York  University,  writes :  — 

Passions  ran  high  in  Congress  over  the  matter.  Patrick 
Henry  declared  that  he  would  "rather  part  with  the  Con- 
federation than  relinquish  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi." 
Madison,  usually  calm  and  philosophic,  was  roused  to  some- 
thing like  anger.  Washington  counseled  patience  and  mod- 
eration, but  his  voice  was  lost  in  the  tumult. 

Nor  was  that  all.  Treason  began  to  rise  in  the  Southwest. 

Matters  grew  worse.  There  were  ominous  threats  of 
secession  in  the  Southwest.  The  people  feared  that  the 
East  would  abandon  them  in  the  effort  to  secure  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  These  troubles  con- 
tinued, until  finally  France  made  a  secret  treaty  with 
Spain  for  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  with  New 
Orleans  and  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Napoleon 
secured  this  huge  territory  (nearly  one  million  square 
miles,  or  one  third  of  the  present  United  States)  in 
exchange  for  promising  the  Queen  of  Spain  that  her 
nephew  should  be  made  King  of  Tuscany.  This  treaty 
was  kept  secret,  and  the  Spanish  officials  remained  in 
nominal  charge  of  Louisiana. 

Finally  Congress  in  1803,  voted  two  million  dollars 
in  a  secret  session  "to  enable  the  executive  to  com- 
mence with  more  effect  a  negotiation  with  the  French 
and  Spanish  Governments  relative  to  the  purchase  of 
the  Island  of  New  Orleans  and  the  provinces  of  East 
and  West  Florida." 

A  few  weeks  later  Congress  authorized  the  call  for 
eighty  thousand  volunteers. 

446 


TURKEY 

Jefferson  wrote  to  Livingston,  American  Minister  in 
Paris:  "The  future  destinies  of  our  country  hang  on 
the  event  of  this  negotiation";  and  to  Dupont  de 
Nemours:  "The  use  of  the  Mississippi  is  so  indispen- 
sable that  we  cannot  one  moment  hesitate  to  hazard 
our  existence  for  its  maintenance. " 

I  can  best  present  the  situation  by  quoting  from  a 
letter  written  by  Jefferson  in  May,  1801,  to  Monroe, 
showing  how  the  right  to  free  access  to  the  sea  through 
the  Mississippi  affected  his  views  as  to  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  United  States :  — 

The  cession  of  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas  by  Spain  to 
France  works  most  sorely  on  the  United  States.  On  this  sub- 
ject the  secretary  of  state  has  written  to  you  fully;  yet  I 
cannot  forbear  recurring  to  it  personally,  so  deep  is  the  im- 
pression it  makes  on  my  mind.  It  completely  reverses  all 
the  political  relations  of  the  United  States,  and  will  form  a 
new  epoch  in  our  political  course.  Of  all  nations  of  any  con- 
sideration, France  is  the  one  which,  hitherto,  has  offered  the 
fewest  points  on  which  we  could  have  conflict  of  rights,  and 
the  most  points  of  a  communion  of  interests.  From  these 
causes  we  have  ever  looked  to  her  as  our  natural  friend,  as 
one  with  whom  we  never  could  have  an  occasion  of  differ- 
ence. Her  growth,  therefore,  we  viewed  as  our  own,  her 
misfortunes  as  ours. 

New  Orleans  was  to  us  what  Constantinople  is  to 
Russia.   Jefferson  continues :  — 

There  is  on  the  globe  one  single  spot,  the  possessor  of 
which  is  our  natural  and  habitual  enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans, 
through  which  the  produce  of  three  eighths  of  our  territory 
must  pass  to  market,  and  from  its  fertility  this  region  will  ere 
long  yield  more  than  half  of  our  whole  produce,  and  contain 
more  than  half  of  our  inhabitants.  France,  placing  herself 
in  that  door,  assumes  to  us  the  attitude  of  defiance.  Spain 
might  have  retained  it  quietly  for  years.    Her  pacific  dis- 

447 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

position,  her  feeble  state,  would  induce  her  to  increase  our 
facilities  there  so  that  her  possession  of  the  place  would 
hardly  be  felt  by  us,  and  it  would  not,  perhaps,  be  very  long 
before  some  circumstances  might  arise  which  might  make 
the  cession  of  it  to  us  the  price  of  something  of  more  worth 
to  her.  Not  so  can  it  ever  be  in  the  hands  of  France. 

We  can  get  an  understanding  of  the  vital  importance 
of  New  Orleans  from  the  extraordinary  suggestions 
Jefferson  made,  which,  if  carried  out,  would  completely 
reverse  our  friendships  in  Europe.   He  wrote :  — 

These  circumstances  render  it  impossible  that  France  and 
the  United  States  can  long  continue  friends  when  they  meet 
in  so  irritable  a  position.  They,  as  well  as  we,  must  be  blind 
if  they  do  not  see  this,  and  we  must  be  very  improvident  if 
we  do  not  begin  to  make  arrangements  on  that  hypothesis. 
The  day  that  France  takes  possession  of  New  Orleans  .  .  . 
seals  the  union  of  two  nations  who,  in  conjunction,  can 
maintain  exclusive  possession  of  the  ocean.  From  that 
moment  we  must  marry  ourselves  to  the  British  fleet  and 
nation.  We  must  turn  all  our  attention  to  a  maritime  force. 

The  feeling  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in 
regard  to  this  matter  is  told  by  Professor  Johnson  in 
the  book  from  which  I  have  just  quoted :  — 

Six  months  later,  on  October  16,  1802,  either  Morales, 
the  Spanish  Intendant,  or  Salcedo,  the  Spanish  Governor, 
at  New  Orleans,  arbitrarily  and  without  warning  revoked 
the  American  right  to  use  that  city  as  a  port  of  deposit.  That 
was  the  first  step  toward  disclosing  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
of  San  Ildefonso  and  toward  turning  Louisiana  over  to  its 
new  owners.  The  news  of  this  did  not  reach  Washington  for 
several  weeks.  But  when  it  did  it  created  one  of  the  most 
profound  sensations  the  American  Republic  had  thus  far 
known.  The  whole  country  was  swept  with  fiery  tides  of 
passion,  amid  which,  strange  to  say,  the  one  man  who  re- 
mained cool,  calm,  conservative,  and  master  of  himself  was 

448 


TURKEY 

the  usually  impressionable  and  impulsive  Jefferson.  In  the 
West,  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky,  the  settlers  were  furious. 
Years  before  they  had  exercised  immeasurable  patience  and 
forbearance  in  the  face  of  great  provocation,  trusting  to  the 
promise  that  their  interests  would  be  protected  and  their 
rights  would  be  vindicated.  But  now  all  seemed  to  be  in 
vain.  The  treaty  which  secured  their  rights  was  wantonly 
repudiated  and  their  vital  interests  were  sacrificed. 

As  is  well  known,  negotiation  with  Napoleon  re- 
sulted in  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  France  secured 
Louisiana  in  return  for  a  promise  that  was  never  ful- 
filled. France  never  occupied  Louisiana,  but  sold  it  to 
the  United  States.   Napoleon  said:  — 

I  have  given  England  a  maritime  rival  who  will  some  day 
humble  her  pride.  Sixty  millions  for  a  territory  which  we 
may  not  occupy  for  a  single  day ! 

The  subsequent  possession  of  Texas,  New  Mexico, 
and  California  was  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana. 

The  conflicting  vital  interests  of  Russia  and  Ger- 
many as  to  Constantinople  and  Asiatic  Turkey  con- 
stitute one  of  the  great  obstacles  to  an  early  peace. 

Of  even  more  importance  to  nations  than  territory 
is  security.  It  can  easily  be  seen,  considering  the  fact 
that  Germany  at  present,  physically  and  militarily, 
occupies  the  territory  from  Hamburg  to  Bagdad,  how 
slight  was  the  possibility  of  peace  from  the  efforts 
made  in  December,  1916,  and  January,  1917.  For  the 
security  of  the  British  Empire  would  be  vitally  threat- 
ened by  the  same  achievement  of  Germany  that  pre- 
vents Russia  from  controlling  the  Bosphorus. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  prize  Germany  aims  to  secure 
to  herself  in  Turkey  is  of  dazzling  importance.   From 

449 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

the  North  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  including  the  Bal- 
kans, but  excluding  the  occupied  territories  of  France, 
Belgium,  and  Russia,  there  is  a  territory  nearly  half 
the  size  of  the  United  States,  with  a  present  population 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  million,  much  of  it  under 
very  primitive  conditions,  waiting  only  for  science  and 
organization  to  make  it  bloom. 

This  territory  could  furnish  now  fifteen  million  to 
twenty  million  soldiers,  and  its  wealth  and  population 
would  increase  rapidly.  Its  communications  for  war 
and  commerce  are  free  from  the  dangers  of  the  sea. 
Once  in  possession  of  this  territory,  Germany  could 
choke  Russia  by  simply  closing  the  Baltic  and  the 
Bosphorus.  With  such  an  advantage  she  could  make 
a  singularly  favorable  commercial  treaty  with  Russia, 
and  perhaps,  in  time,  even  a  treaty  of  alliance. 

The  territory  which  comprises  the  Turkish  Empire 
includes  cities  and  regions  which  successively  in  the 
history  of  the  world  have  exercised  great  power  and 
influence,  —  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  Alexandria,  Con- 
stantinople, and  Bagdad.  Within  its  boundaries  lies 
the  traditional  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  There,  too, 
are  the  Holy  Land  and  Jerusalem. 

Perhaps  the  chief  political  objective  of  the  Turkish 
Government  is  to  get  control  of  the  Suez  Canal  and 
Egypt.  Egypt  is  the  most  densely  populated  country 
in  the  world.  With  a  cultivable  area  of  ten  thousand 
square  miles,  it  has  a  population  of  nearly  fourteen 
million,  or  almost  double  that  of  Belgium,  which  has 
an  area  of  eleven  thousand  square  miles. 

The  inhabitants  of  Egypt  are  probably  the  most 
easily  oppressed  of  all  peoples.  From  the  earliest  dawn  . 
of  recorded  history  until  the  British  possession  of 

450 


TURKEY 

Egypt,  their  history  is  an  unvarying  record  of  oppres- 
sion and  suffering,  varied  by  methods  that  differed 
only  in  degrees  of  atrocity  and  cruelty.  Under  the 
benign  and  just  rule  of  England,  Egypt  has  prospered 
amazingly.  Her  population  has  doubled  in  thirty 
years. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Armenians,  with  the  appropria- 
tion of  their  properties  (and  the  Armenians  are  very 
industrious),  has  temporarily  increased  the  wealth  of 
the  Turks.  But  inasmuch  as  the  Armenians  were  the 
principal  producers  of  wealth  in  the  country,  the 
plunder  taken  from  them  will  soon  be  exhausted. 
Egypt  would  be  another  and  richer  Armenia.  More- 
over, there  are  great  numbers  of  Coptic  Christians 
there,  who  would  be  robbed  first.  In  Egypt,  however, 
the  Turks,  when  in  power,  robbed  and  oppressed  their 
own  fellow-religionists.  The  Turks  are  determined  to 
get  Egypt,  and  many  of  the  most  fanatical  of  the 
officials  engaged  in  managing  the  deportation  and 
destruction  of  the  Armenians  are  Egyptians.  Every 
publicist  I  talked  to  in  Germany  about  Egypt  said 
that  it  would  go  to  Turkey. 

It  might  be  asserted  that  in  such  a  case  Germany 
would  exercise  an  overlordship  and  would  prevent 
cruelties  and  injustices  in  Egypt.  That  would  be  just 
as  impossible  as  it  now  is  for  the  Germans  to  prevent 
the  Armenian  deportations.  The  ruling  Turks  are  very 
proud,  and  even  now  fret  at  the  necessary  German 
collaboration  in  Turkey.  Germany  could  control 
Turkish  policy  only  by  war,  and  should  Germany 
resort  to  war  against  Turkey,  there  are  other  nations 
that  would  seize  the  opportunity  to  drive  German 
influence  out  of  Turkey. 

451 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

I  spoke  of  the  mass  of  literature  I  found  in  the  hotel 
at  Hamburg,  dealing  with  Asiatic  Turkey.  I  will  give 
some  idea  of  this  literature. 

Dr.  Freiherr  von  Mackay  ("The  Quadruple  Alli- 
ance and  the  World-Significance  of  the  New  Con- 
nexion between  Europe  and  the  East."  Stuttgart, 
1916):  — 

The  first  and  foremost  direction  for  the  blow  to  be  struck 
by  the  new  Quadruple  Alliance  is  known  and  has  been 
much  discussed.  Its  point  is  defined  in  the  phrase :  "  Ostend- 
Bagdad!"  It  is  directed  against  Britain's  supremacy  of 
the  seas  and  the  chain  of  naval  stations  connecting  the 
North  Sea  with  India.  It  counters  the  London  blue-water 
school  with  the  principle :  Waves  are  broken  by  the  land. 

Professor  Roloff  ("An  Egyptian  Expedition  as  a 
Weapon  against  England."  Giessen,  1915)  suggests 
that  the  expulsion  of  the  British  from  Egypt  would 
be  Germany's  greatest  triumph.   He  continues:  — 

Even  if  the  British  escape  catastrophe  in  Egypt,  their 
occupation  of  that  country  will  bring  them  little  profit  and 
less  peace  of  mind  if  Turkey  emerges  from  this  war  strong 
and  rejuvenated.  In  that  case  England  would  always  have 
to  reckon  with  a  possible  Mussulman  attack  on  the  Suez 
Canal  and  be  compelled  to  detach  a  large  portion  of  her 
forces  to  defend  it;  i.e.,  weaken  herself  in  Europe. 

Professor  Alfred  Hettner  ("The  Aims  of  our  World- 
Policy,"  Berlin,  1915)  expresses  the  General  Turkish 
policy  of  Germany,  which  is  to  reorganize  the  Turkish 
Empire  and  make  it  so  powerful  that  Egypt  would 
be  untenable  for  England.   He  says:  — 

During  the  war,  Turkey,  in  unison  with  the  Central 
Empires,  has  defined  her  aims  in  regard  to  Egypt.  It  must 
become  an  integral  part  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  .  .  . 

We  can  only  pursue  such  aims  as  have  Turkey's  full 

452 


TURKEY 

consent.  Territorial  aggrandizement  is  out  of  the  question. 
It  is  questionable  whether  it  will  be  possible  to  establish 
large  settlements  of  German  peasants.  Without  doubt  Ger- 
many will  be  interested  most  of  all  in  commercial  under- 
takings, developing  the  means  of  communication  and  sys- 
tems of  irrigation,  together  with  educative  work  in  politi- 
cal, military,  and  cultural  matters.  .  .  . 

Such  a  policy  will  give  us  a  strong  ally,  whose  strength 
will  grow  from  year  to  year;  an  ally  who  will  be  of  greater 
value  to  us  than  any  colored  African  troops  could  ever  be. 
At  the  same  time  it  opens  the  way  to  Egypt  and  Persia, 
and  through  the  Persian  Gulf  —  where  England's  suprem- 
acy must  be  broken  —  to  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  lands 
around  it.  .  .  . 

Professor  During  says  (September,  1915):  — 

On  broad  lines  it  is  now  quite  clear  what  form  the  future 
Turkish  Empire  will  assume.  From  Tripoli  across  to  Persia 
and  on  the  ridges  of  the  Caucasus,  German  energy  —  with- 
out injury  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Osmanic  State  —  will 
cooperate  in  Turkey's  renaissance  and  the  development  of 
her  treasures. 

In  "The  Fight  for  the  Dardanelles"  (Stuttgart, 
1915)  Herr  Trampe  says:  — 

When  England  —  the  European  outsider  who  lags  far 
behind  Germany  in  national  power,  individual  talent,  and 
political  strength  —  loses  India,  then  her  world-power  will 
be  broken.  The  ancient  highroad  of  the  world  is  the  one 
which  leads  from  Europe  to  India  —  the  road  used  by 
Alexander  —  the  highway  which  leads  from  the  Danube 
via  Constantinople  to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  and  by 
Northern  Persia,  Herat,  and  Kabul  to  the  Ganges.  Every 
yard  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  which  is  laid  brings  the  owner 
of  the  railway  nearer  to  India.  What  Alexander  performed 
and  Napoleon  undoubtedly  planned,  can  be  achieved  by  a 
third  treading  in  their  footsteps.  .  .  . 

The  spirit  of  history  has  determined,  too,  that  in  the  cul- 

453 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

tural  war  let  loose  by  enemies  filled  with  fear  and  hate  for 
our  State  system,  the  Central  Empires'  towering  superior- 
ity in  cultural  greatness  shall  beat  back  and  vanquish  the 
barbarous  methods  of  our  antagonists.  .  .  . 

Field-Marshal  von  Mackensen  is  paving  the  way  indi- 
cated by  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy;  and  the  Young  German 
Empire  has  undertaken  the  task  which  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  left  as  an  unsolved  heritage  to  the  German  nation. 

Turkey  seems  so  near  to  us;  and  the  German  nation  is 
sacrificing  blood  and  treasure  for  the  sake  of  regulating 
conditions  in  the  Balkans.  The  most  striking  and  at  the 
same  time  the  most  pleasing  symptom,  however,  is  that 
there  are  no  protests  at  the  turn  events  have  taken.  The 
conviction  seems  to  have  penetrated  through  the  whole 
nation  that  it  must  be  so  —  that  we  are  not  out  for  an 
adventure,  but  merely  obeying  an  inward  necessity,  when 
we  make  the  cause  of  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  our  own. 

Professor  Hettner  ("The  Aims  of  our  World  Pol- 
icy," Berlin,  1915)  writes:  — 

Now  that  our  Weltpolitik  has  brought  us  into  armed  con- 
flict with  England,  we  must  endeavor,  in  spite  of  Britain's 
power,  to  gain  that  which  will  be  conducive  to  our  welfare; 
and  that  is  not  a  limitation  to  West  Africa,  but  a  sphere  of 
interest  or  an  empire  which  stretches  across  Africa  from 
one  ocean  to  the  other.  We  will  win  our  place  in  the  sun, 
and  to  this  end  destroy  England's  world-domination,  and 
keep  Russia  within  her  proper  limits.  Nor  will  we  renounce 
the  Pacific  either  to  American  or  Japanese  dominion.  Until 
we  have  broken  England's  power  we  cannot  be  a  great  and 
free  nation. 

Professor  During,  in  an  article,  "Germany  and 
Turkey,"  writes :  — 

I  spent  fourteen  years  in  the  Orient  just  in  the  period 
when  German  interests  and  influence  began  to  increase 
there.  My  great  love  for  the  country  and  its  people  has 
always  led  me  to  wish  and  hope  that  Turkey  would  rise  to 
the  rank  of  a  first-class  power  with  Germany's  help. 

454 


TURKEY 

And  Professor  Roloff  follows  up  the  idea :  — 

Turkey  has  become  a  kind  of  "life  insurance"  for  Ger- 
many against  the  English  danger.  For,  in  case  Britain 
eventually  attacked  Germany,  the  reply  would  be  an  attack 
through  Turkey  against  Egypt.  A  beginning  has  also  been 
made  in  the  tremendous  task  of  awakening  new  life  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  the  once  fruitful 
Mesopotamia.  For  many  years  past  a  British  company  has 
been  engaged  on  this  gigantic  problem.  They  have  en- 
deavored, by  reconstructing  the  decayed  irrigation  canals, 
building  new  dams,  and  extending  the  irrigation  system, 
to  revive  in  this  dead  land  the  same  or  even  greater  fer- 
tility than  it  enjoyed  thousands  of  years  ago.  Now  we  may 
safely  assume  that  German  engineers  will  complete  the 
work  of  transforming  and  opening  up  these  enormous  terri- 
tories. 

Another  task  to  which  the  Turks  must  devote  themselves 
is  the  development  of  their  sea  power.  Germany  too  must 
acquire  a  naval  station  on  Turkish  soil.  .  .  . 

Of  what  use  would  Gibraltar,  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  Suez  Canal  be  to  England,  if  our  land-ways  to  Persia 
and  India  are  secure  beyond  the  range  of  the  biggest  naval 
guns? . .  . 

The  Bagdad  Railway  consists  of  a  single  track;  con- 
struction is  proceeding  simultaneously  at  both  ends 
of  each  gap;  and  the  entire  railway  should  be  com- 
pleted in  1917,  when,  as  we  are  told  and  can  well  be- 
lieve, and  as  Hans  Rohde  writes  (in  "Deutschland  in 
Vorderasien,"   Berlin,  1916) :  — 

It  will  produce  economic,  political,  and  cultural  results 
the  extent  of  which  cannot  now  be  imagined.  In  a  very 
short  time  direct  communication  by  rail  will  be  established 
between  Constantinople  and  Bagdad;  while  during  the 
next  generation  towns  and  villages  will  spring  up  along  the 
line,  and  along  the  lesser  railways  which  will  be  built  to 
complete  the  network.   These  will  provide  for  the  agricul- 

455 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

tural  and  industrial  development  of  that  ancient  seat  of 
culture  to  the  mutual  profit  of  Turkey  and  Germany. 

The  sword  had  to  decide  the  fate  of  Near  Asia,  and  a 
decision  has  fallen,  unless  unforeseen  events  intervene. 
Germany  will  not  be  limited  to  the  sphere  of  influence 
formerly  alloted  to  her,  but  in  future  she  will  devote  her 
energies  to  Armenia,  Syria,  and  Mesopotamia  in  the  in- 
terests of  German  capitalists  and  merchants.  In  this  man- 
ner the  way  will  be  kept  open  which  the  war  indicated 
and  which,  together  with  our  allies,  we  have  fought  for 
and  won  —  the  way  that  leads  from  Berlin,  via  Vienna  — 
Sofia  —  Constantinople  —  Bagdad,  to  the  Persian  Gulf, 
and  has  become  the  vital  nerve  in  our  economic  life  and 
our  policy. 

Before  the  war  there  were  about  one  thousand 
schools  in  Turkey  maintained  by  other  nations  as 
follows :  — 

France 530  schools,  with  about  54,000  pupils 

America 273       "  "         "      18  000      " 

England 126       "  "         "      10000      " 

Italy 67       "  "        "        5,000      " 

Germany 23       "  "         "        3,000      " 

All  these  schools  would  be  suppressed  or  either 
Germanized  or  Moslemized. 

The  huge  expectations  of  Germany,  an  anonymous 
writer  in  Mesopotamia  ("The  Land  of  the  Future," 
Berlin,  1916)  says,  after  a  few  decades  of  intensive  cul- 
ture Turkey  will  be  able  to  supply  the  deficit  in  Ger- 
man requirements  as  regards  grains,  fruit,  cotton, 
wool,  petroleum,  fat,  etc. 

But  [he  adds]  this  will  only  be  possible  if  German  offi- 
cials and  German  capital  are  given  complete  freedom  of 
action,  and  all  foreign  undertakings  —  above  all,  English 
and  French  projects  —  are  excluded.  Hand  in  hand  with 
this  demand  must  go  the  work  of  developing  the  means  of 
communication,  colonization  plans,  and  the  securing  of  the 

456 


TURKEY 

power  of  the  State  by  a  proper  organization  of  the  adminis- 
trative and  military  establishments. 

Although  it  would  take  five  Egypts  to  make  the 
State  of  Iowa,  its  population  of  fourteen  millions  is  equal 
to  nearly  seventy  per  cent  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 
What  a  Belgium  or  Armenia  it  would  be  for  Turkey! 

Recently  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  a  member  of  the 
British  Cabinet,  said :  — 

Suppose  we  had  a  peace  on  the  basis  of  status  quo  ante 
helium.  You  forget  that  while  Germany  has  failed  to  conquer 
her  enemies,  she  has  conquered  her  allies;  Germany  has 
subordinated  Austria,  Turkey,  and  Bulgaria  wholly  to  her 
will,  and  "Middle  Europe"  has  become  a  political  reality. 
It  is  impossible  to  return  to  the  status  quo  as  between  Ger- 
many and  her  enemies.  We  cannot  tolerate  so  strong  and 
so  strongly  placed  a  military  force  as  would  be  constituted 
by  Germany,  Austria,  Turkey,  and  Bulgaria  effectively 
united  under  German  control,  nor  can  we  do  so  even  in 
view  of  international  aspirations  after  peace  for  the  future. 

The  fate  of  the  inhabitants  of  Egypt  depends  on 
the  outcome  of  this  war.  The  loss  of  the  Suez  Canal 
would  be  a  capital  disaster  to  Great  Britain.  We  may, 
therefore,  conclude  that  neither  of  the  great  belli- 
gerents will  give  up  the  fight  for  the  control  of  Egypt 
and  the  Suez  Canal,  which  means  so  much,  until  the 
exhaustion  of  one  side  or  the  other.  To  Great  Britain 
it  is  a  fight  to  prevent  the  greatest  disaster  in  her  his- 
tory; to  Germany,  a  fight  for  achieving  a  sure  founda- 
tion for  world-dominion;  and  to  the  ruling  class  of 
Turkey,  it  is  a  fight  for  vast  riches  and  power. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

OUR    SISTER    FRANCE 

"What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul?"  The  significance  of  this  ques- 
tion is  common  knowledge  to  all  peoples.  But  until 
my  visit  to  France  last  summer  I  never  thought  of  the 
converse,  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  (or  a  nation)  if 
he  lose  the  whole  world  and  save  his  own  soul?"  — 
and  in  a  way  that  is  what  has  happened  to  France.  For 
all  France,  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  has  made 
the  ultimate  surrender  of  personal  ambition,  property, 
life,  freedom  from  pain,  everything,  in  behalf  of  France. 
"My  life  is  but  a  moment  in  the  life  of  France,  France 
is  eternal,"  an  officer  said  in  dying;  and  that  is  the 
spirit  of  all.  The  story  of  France  is  written  in  the 
blood  of  her  children,  who  died  that  France  might  live. 

The  result  of  this  devotion  is  such  a  revealing  of  the 
very  soul  of  France  that  for  the  first  time  one  realizes 
that  behind  the  achievements  of  France,  —  the  mother 
of  democracies,  and  of  human  freedom,  the  mother  of 
surpassing  beauty  in  art  and  literature,  the  mother  of 
gracious  and  noble  human  intercourse,  —  there  always 
was  something  incomparably  greater  and  more  lovable 
than  her  achievements,  and  that  was  the  soul  itself  of 
France. 

It  was  not  a  new  France  that  was  revealed  at  Verdun 
or  at  the  Marne.  It  was  France.  The  France  without 
whose  contributions  even  of  the  last  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  the  world  would  be  greatly  poorer. 

458 


OUR  SISTER  FRANCE 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  a  capital  issue  of  the 
war  is  the  fate  of  France.  Had  Germany  won  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Marne,  and  had  England  held  aloof  from  the 
conflict,  France,  which  had  survived  the  calamities  of 
1870-71,  would  have  lost  the  nourishing  atmosphere 
of  freedom  that  has  enabled  her  so  wonderfully  to  en- 
rich human  civilization. 

The  miracle  of  France  in  this  war  is  that,  with 
almost  fatal  handicaps,  she  has  surpassed  all  other  na- 
tions in  economic  and  military  organization  and  effi- 
ciency. And  this  is  due  only  in  part  to  the  universal 
devotion  of  her  people :  it  is  mainly  because  in  the  ul- 
timate assessment  of  ordeal  by  war  France  has  shown 
herself  superior  in  force  and  genius. 

The  most  thrilling  page  in  her  history  is  open  to  the 
eyes  of  all  the  world.  It  is  the  battle-field  of  Verdun. 
In  this  one  battle  of  Verdun,  in  six  months  the  loss  of 
France  exceeded  the  losses  of  the  Union  armies  in  our 
whole  Civil  War.  The  battle  of  Verdun,  involving  as 
much  fighting  as  all  our  Civil  War,  had  hundreds  of 
Thermopylae,  hundreds  of  Gettysburgs,  but  each  in- 
finitely more  terrible  than  the  world  had  ever  seen  be- 
fore. Most  battles  last  one  or  two  days.  This  battle 
has  lasted  more  than  a  year  and  is  not  yet  ended.  In 
certain  exposed  places  death  was  almost  inevitable, 
but  the  French  youth,  regiment  after  regiment,  went 
forward  to  hold  them  till  death.  No  surrender,  no 
retreat.  It  was  their  mad  bravery  and  divine  cour- 
age that  held  Verdun.  It  was  the  greatest  test  a  na- 
tion ever  endured,  and  the  youth  of  France  never 
faltered  there,  but  has  gone  on  day  after  day,  week 
after  week,  month  after  month,  facing  death,  muti- 
lation, and  torture  in  their  most  terrible  form.    For 

459 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

many  death  came  in  being  burned  to  a  crisp  by 
liquid  fire,  hundreds  and  hundreds  were  buried  alive 
in  their  trenches.  Many  of  those  who  survived  the 
liquid  fire  were  brought  back  with  face  and  eyes  de- 
stroyed by  the  flames. 

The  battle  of  the  Marne  and  the  battle  of  Verdun 
give  us  a  true  measure  of  the  character  of  the  French 
and  an  indication  of  their  purpose.  To  know  the  story 
of  Verdun  is  to  know  the  mind  of  France,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  French.  For  war  is  the  most  searching 
test  of  a  people,  and  the  battle  of  Verdun  is  one  of  the 
most  terrible  ever  fought. 

In  other  days  heroism  was  a  matter  of  hours,  sharp, 
thrilling,  unexpected.  Most  men  can  face  death  for  a 
brief  space,  but  the  youth  who  saved  France  knew  be- 
forehand what  was  to  come,  and  lived  and  moved  days, 
weeks,  and  months,  meeting  death  in  its  most  mysteri- 
ous and  terrible  forms.  "He  was  at  Verdun"  will 
be  the  ultimate  badge  of  courage  for  generations  to 
come. 

For  generations  to  come  the  youth  of  all  countries 
will  visit  Verdun  and  see  the  land  made  holy  by  the 
blood  and  anguish  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
men,  who  revealed  qualities  and  endurance  surpassing 
all  possible  anticipation :  who  showed  as  never  before 
what  France  is,  in  courage,  self-denial,  nobility,  and 
infinite  endurance. 

As  regiment  after  regiment  marched  up  the  single 
road  that  was  available,  I  was  told  that  no  one  smiled, 
but  no  one  hesitated.  All  the  men,  munitions,  and 
provisions  went  up  this  single  road,  all  the  wounded 
were  brought  back  by  this  road.  It  is  called  the  Via 
Sacra. 

460 


OUR  SISTER  FRANCE 

Sometime,  perhaps,  the  youth  of  other  lands  may 
build  a  monument  on  this  road. 

I  quote  this  little  tribute  from  Maurice  Maeterlinck : 

In  this  horrible  war,  whose  stakes  are  the  salvation  and  the 
future  of  mankind,  let  us  first  of  all  salute  our  wonderful 
sister  France,  who  is  supporting  the  heaviest  burden  and 
who,  for  more  than  eleven  months,  having  broken  its  first 
and  most  formidable  onslaught,  has  been  struggling,  foot  by 
foot,  at  closest  quarters,  without  faltering,  without  remis- 
sion, with  a  heroic  smile,  against  the  most  formidable  organi- 
zation of  devastation  that  the  world  has  seen  since  man  first 
learnt  the  history  of  the  planet  on  which  he  lives.  We  have 
here  a  revelation  of  qualities  and  virtues  surpassing  all  that 
we  expected  from  a  nation,  which  nevertheless  had  accus- 
tomed us  to  expect  of  her  all  that  goes  to  make  the  beauty 
and  glory  of  humanity. 

The  Paris  correspondent  of  the  Christiania  "Tidens 
Tegn,"  Dr.  Bjarne  Eide,  describes  the  spirit  of  Paris 
on  the  day  of  the  National  Fete :  — 

Once  more  it  is  France  that  leads  the  way  in  the  fight  for 
all  humanity;  it  is  France  once  more  that  offers  whatever  it 
holds  dearest  on  the  altar  of  the  common  good.  .  .  .  And 
France  is  much  greater  and  stands  much  higher  on  this  14th 
of  July  than  on  that  other,  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago.  It 
has  a  mastery  over  itself  such  as  it  has  never  had  before,  and 
it  sees  clearly  and  in  sharp  outlines  the  ideal  it  is  fighting  for. 

One  needs  to  be  here,  in  Paris,  in  order  to  be  sensible  of 
the  mighty  and  inspiring  passion  which  sweeps  through  the 
people,  one  and  all.  And  when  I  look  at  the  map  of  the  world 
I  ask  myself  from  what  quarter  a  great  ideal  movement  is  to 
come  if  not  from  France?  Is  there  any  people  in  the  world 
so  willing  as  the  French  to  risk  everything  in  a  striving  to- 
wards ideals? 

It  is  the  threatening  vision  of  the  new  world-Bastille  that 
has  brought  them  all  together  in  the  realization  that  as 
surely  as  the  old  Bastille  had  to  fall,  so  surely  must  all  Bas- 

461 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

tilles  be  overthrown,  for  they  have  no  place  in  man's  life 
upon  earth.  .  .  . 

i  There  is  no  day  which  will  then  be  held  more  fitting  for 
the  world's  Festival  of  Freedom  than  the  Frenchmen's  14th 
of  July. 

Here  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  found  on  the  body 
of  Jean  Chatanay,  reservist  lieutenant  killed  at  Ver- 
melles,  October  15,  1914,  that  reveals  the  spirit  of 
France : — 

My  darling  [he  wrote  to  his  wife],  I  am  writing  this  letter 
in  case  of  need,  for  we  do  not  know.  ...  If  it  reaches  you,  it 
is  because  France  will  have  had  need  of  me  to  the  end.  You 
must  not  weep,  for  I  swear  to  you,  I  shall  die  happy  if  I  am 
called  to  give  my  life  for  her. 

My  only  anxiety  is  the  difficult  situation  in  which  you  will 
find  yourself,  you  and  the  children.  .  .  .  How  shall  you  be 
able  to  assure  proper  support  for  the  dear  babies  and  your- 
self? Fortunately,  you  can  depend  upon  your  former  experi- 
ence as  teacher  and  on  the  entire  cooperation  of  all  my 
friends.  How  I  wish  that  some  possible  solution  will  be 
arranged  for  you! 

Concerning  the  education  of  the  children,  I  am  not  dis- 
turbed; you  will  direct  it  as  I  myself  would  have  done.  I 
hope  that  they  will  become  as  independent  as  I  would  have 
enabled  them  to  if  I  could  have  remained.  The  only  great 
trouble  will  be  Zette,  for  it  will  be  hard,  if  not  impossible,  to 
live  in  Paris.  .  .  .  Caress  the  dear  little  ones  for  their  papa; 
tell  them  that  he  has  gone  on  a  long,  very  long  journey, 
without  ceasing  to  love  them,  without  ceasing  to  think  of 
them;  and  that  he  protects  them  from  afar.  I  would  like  to 
have  Cotte,  at  least,  remember  me.  .  .  .  There  will  also  be  a 
little  child,  so  little  that  I  shall  not  have  known  it.  If  it  is  a 
son,  I  hope  that  he  will  be  a  doctor,  at  least  if  France  no 
longer  needs  officers.  Say  to  him,  when  he  is  old  enough  to 
understand,  that  I  have  given  my  life  for  a  great  ideal,  to  reor- 
ganize and  strengthen  my  country. 

I  believe  that  I  have  said  all  that  is  essential.   Au  revoir, 

462 


OUR  SISTER  FRANCE 

my  dear  one,  my  love.  Promise  me  that  you  will  not  blame 
France  if  she  requires  me  to  give  my  entire  self.  Promise  me 
also  to  console  mamma  and  papa;  and  tell  the  little  girls  that 
their  father,  although  he  is  far  away,  never  ceases  to  watch 
over  them  and  to  love  them  dearly.  We  will  one  day  be 
reunited,  I  trust,  reunited  beside  that  One  who  guides  our 
destinies,  and  who  has  given  me  the  blessing  of  being  near  to 
you  and  of  having  known  such  happpiness  in  you.  Poor 
darling,  I  myself  have  not  the  time  to  dwell  long  enough  on 
our  love,  so  magnificently  enduring  and  so  brave. 

Au  revoir,  until  the  great,  the  true  reunion.  Be  brave. 

Your  Jean. 

This  is  a  short  chapter  for  a  great  nation. 

When  Lincoln  was  assassinated  the  common  people 
of  France,  and  many  famous  people  like  Victor  Hugo, 
contributed  two  cents  each  —  the  amount  was  small, 
so  that  many  might  share  in  the  privilege  of  contribut- 
ing —  to  have  a  medal  made  to  send  to  Mrs.  Lincoln. 
The  medal  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  American 
Ambassador  to  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Lincoln,  with  this  mes- 
sage: "Say  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  that  in  this  little  box  is 
the  heart  of  France." 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  LESSON    TO   OUR  OWN   COUNTRY 

It  was  my  intention  to  devote  a  chapter  to  "Europe 
after  the  War,"  with  special  reference  to  the  effect  on 
our  industrial  situation.  Much  has  been  said  and  writ- 
ten on  this  subject.  But  I  find  I  have  no  heart  to  deal 
with  what  will  happen  to  us.  When  one  knows  the 
tragedy  of  Europe,  it  is  difficult  to  study  our  own 
particular  industrial  interests. 

There  is,  however,  one  lesson  for  us:  the  parallel  be- 
tween Turkey  and  Mexico  in  their  international  as- 
pects. Those  two  nations  have  about  the  same  area. 
The  inhabitants  of  neither  country  are  able  to  organize 
a  government  that  will  insure  themselves  justice  and 
security.  Neither  country  is  able  to  develop  its  re- 
sources or  to  protect  itself.  Both  countries  will  inevit- 
ably be  dominated  by  more  powerful  nations. 

The  history  of  Mexico  will  duplicate  that  of  Turkey. 
In  time  Mexico  is  bound  to  be  a  prize  to  be  fought  for. 
I  make  this  statement  having  no  nation  or  nations  in 
my  mind.  The  world  is  small,  the  hunger  and  power  of 
the  leading  industrial  nations  are  great.  There  are 
many  similarities  in  detail  between  Turkey  and  Mexico. 
A  great  military  and  naval  power,  controlling  Mexico, 
would  dominate  the  small  Central  American  nations 
and  the  Panama  Canal. 

A  century  is  a  long  time  in  the  history  of  the  world; 
it  is  a  moment  in  the  history  of  biology  and  evolu- 
tion.  Thousands  of  years  would  be  a  short  period  for 

464 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

the  Mexican  people  to  develop  the  intelligence  and 
power  necessary  to  enable  them  to  be  masters  of  their 
fate. 

Speaking  of  New  Orleans,  in  1801,  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son said,  "There  is  on  the  globe  one  single  spot,  the 
possessor  of  which  is  our  natural  and  habitual  enemy." 
Much  more  would  this  be  true  of  the  powerful  nation 
that  might  secure  a  sufficient  foothold  in  Mexico  to 
develop  such  wealth  and  power  as  to  be  able  to  retain 
control. 

In  some  way  the  United  States  should  make  an  in- 
dustrial and  political  alliance  with  Mexico. 

There  are  more  than  twelve  millions  in  Mexico  who 
are  powerless  to  get  for  themselves  ordinary  security 
and  justice.  Mexico  is  the  greatest  unguarded  body  of 
treasure  on  the  globe.  It  is,  moreover,  a  mass  of  treas- 
ure that  constitutes  an  unguarded  entrance  into  the 
United  States. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  concern  itself  with  the  Mexican  question  in 
the  light  of  the  Turkish  question  in  Europe. 

The  United  States  is  blessed  above  all  nations  in  its 
natural  security.  In  a  recent  book  the  noted  naval 
authority,  Archibald  Hurd,  speaking  of  the  British 
Empire,  says :  — 

By  the  power  of  the  sea  the  British  Empire  came  into 
being,  and  with  the  loss  of  that  power  it  will  pass  away 
again.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  ships  —  ships  of  war  and  ships 
of  commerce.  The  former  are  the  life  lines  of  the  greatest 
empire  the  world  has  ever  seen,  an  empire  without  a  threat- 
ened land  frontier,  whose  unity  can  be  maintained  only  so 
long  as  the  British  fleet  commands  the  seas,  which  are  its 
highways.  .  .  .  The  British  Empire  floats  on  the  two  Brit- 
ish Navies  —  the  Royal  Navy  and  the  Merchant  Navy  — 

465 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

and  once  they  are  permitted  to  decline  that  empire's  doom 
is  sealed. 

Compared  with  the  nations  of  Europe  we  are  singu- 
larly fortunate.  But  we  should  lose  half  our  natural  se- 
curity if  Mexico  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  power- 
ful nation. 

The  good  fortune  that  is  ours,  that  gives  us  a  conti- 
nent in  area  and  access  to  the  sea,  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. 

In  his  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  1, 
1862,  Lincoln  said  in  part:  — 

A  nation  may  be  said  to  consist  of  its  territory,  its  people, 
and  its  laws.  The  territory  is  the  only  part  which  is  of  cer- 
tain durability.  "  One  generation  passeth  away  and  another 
generation  cometh,  but  the  earth  abideth  forever."  It  is  of 
the  first  importance  to  duly  consider  and  estimate  this  ever 
enduring  part.  That  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  which  is 
owned  and  inhabited  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  is 
well  adapted  to  be  the  home  of  one  national  family,  and  it 
is  not  well  adapted  for  two  or  more.  Its  vast  extent  and  its 
variety  of  climate  and  productions  are  of  advantage  in  this 
age  for  one  people,  whatever  they  might  have  been  in  former 
ages.  .  .  . 

There  is  no  line,  straight  or  crooked,  suitable  for  a  na- 
tional boundary,  upon  which  to  divide.  Trace  through 
from  east  to  west  upon  the  line  between  the  free  and  the 
slave  country,  and  we  shall  find  a  little  more  than  one  third 
of  its  length  are  rivers,  easy  to  be  crossed,  and  populated, 
or  soon  to  be  populated,  thickly  upon  both  sides;  while 
nearly  all  of  its  remaining  length  are  merely  surveyors'  lines, 
over  which  people  may  walk  back  and  forth  without  any 
consciousness  of  their  presence.  No  part  of  this  line  can 
be  made  any  more  difficult  to  pass,  by  writing  it  down  on 
paper  or  parchment  as  a  national  boundary. 

But  there  is  another  difficulty.  The  great  interior  region, 
bounded  east  by  the  Alleghanies,  north  by  the  British 

466 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

Dominions,  west  by  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  south  by 
the  line  along  which  the  culture  of  corn  and  cotton  meets, 
.  .  .  already  has  above  ten  millions  of  people,  and  will  have 
fifty  millions  within  fifty  years,  if  not  prevented  by  any 
political  folly  or  mistake.  It  contains  more  than  one  third 
of  the  country  owned  by  the  United  States  —  certainly 
more  than  one  million  of  square  miles.  A  glance  at  the  map 
shows  that,  territorially  speaking,  it  is  the  great  body  of 
the  Republic.  In  the  production  of  provisions,  grains, 
grasses,  and  all  which  proceed  from  them,  this  great  in- 
terior region  is  naturally  one  of  the  most  important  in  the 
world. 

And  yet  this  region  has  no  seacoast,  touches  no  ocean 
anywhere.  As  part  of  one  nation,  its  people  now  find,  and 
may  forever  find,  their  way  to  Europe  by  New  York,  to 
South  America  and  Africa  by  New  Orleans,  and  to  Asia 
by  San  Francisco.  But  separate  our  common  country  into 
two  nations,  as  designed  by  the  present  rebellion,  and 
every  man  of  this  great  interior  region  is  thereby  cut  off 
from  some  one  or  more  of  these  outlets  —  not  perhaps  by 
a  physical  barrier,  but  by  embarrassing  and  onerous  trade 
regulations. 

Our  national  strife  springs  not  from  our  permanent  part, 
not  from  the  land  we  inhabit,  not  from  our  national  home- 
stead. There  is  no  possible  severing  of  this  but  would 
multiply  and  not  mitigate  evils  among  us.  In  all  its  adap- 
tations and  aptitudes  it  demands  union  and  abhors  sep- 
aration. 

Our  strife  pertains  to  ourselves  - —  to  the  passing  genera- 
tions of  men;  and  it  cannot  without  convulsion  be  hushed 
forever  with  the  passing  of  one  generation.  .  .  . 

Fellow  citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history.  We  of  this 
Congress  and  this  Administration  will  be  remembered  in 
spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal  significance  or  insignificance 
can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The  fiery  trial  through  which 
we  pass  will  light  us  down,  in  honor  or  dishonor,  to  the  latest 
generation.  .  .  .  We  shall  nobly  save  or  meanly  lose  the  last, 
best  hope  on  earth.  .  .  . 

467 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

"We  of  this  Congress  and  this  Administration"  can 
prevent  serious  trouble  to  this  nation  and  this  conti- 
nent more  easily  than  following  governments.  Every 
year  will  make  the  problem  more  difficult,  and  if 
neglected  nothing  but  a  war,  and  a  war  under  modern 
conditions,  will  solve  the  Mexican  question  and  re- 
establish our  natural  security. 

Lincoln  was  one  of  our  greatest  statesmen. 

Let  us  glance  back  at  the  early  deeds  of  our  country, 
when  the  United  States  was  young.  Our  country  was  a 
mere  infant.  Not  so  the  men  of  that  day.  They  were 
as  concerned  with  the  well-being  of  the  Republic  a 
hundred  years  after  their  time  as  they  were  with  the 
immediate  problems.  For  security  they  made  the 
Louisiana  Purchase.  When  the  treaty  of  purchase 
was  signed,  Livingston  remarked  to  Monroe:  "We 
have  lived  long,  but  this  is  the  noblest  work  of  our 
lives." 

When  Tripoli  made  demands  on  us  that  Jefferson 
characterized  as  unfounded  either  in  right  or  compact, 
"I  sent,"  he  said,  in  his  first  Annual  Message  to  Con- 
gress December  8,  1801,  "a  small  squadron  of  frigates 
into  the  Mediterranean,  with  assurances  to  that  power 
of  our  sincere  desire  to  remain  in  peace,  but  with  or- 
ders to  protect  our  commerce  against  the  threatened 
attack." 

This  "small  squadron  "  settled  matters  satisfactorily. 
In  his  Annual  Message,  November  8,  1804,  Jefferson 
said :  — 

The  Bey  of  Tunis  having  made  requisitions  unauthorized 
by  our  treaty,  their  rejection  has  produced  from  him  some 
expressions  of  discontent.  But  to  those  who  expect  us  to 
calculate  whether  a  compliance  with  unjust  demands  will 

468 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

not  cost  us  less  than  a  war  we  must  leave  as  a  question  for 
calculation  for  them  also  whether  to  retire  from  unjust  de- 
mands will  not  cost  them  less  than  a  war. 

We,  not  Europe,  settled  the  Barbary  pirates.  And 
when  Greece  was  fighting  for  release  from  Turkish  rule 
President  Monroe  expressed  the  ardent  sympathy  of 
this  country  for  the  aspiration  of  Greece. 

Madison,  also,  in  a  letter  to  Monroe,  said :  — 

Will  it  not  be  honorable  in  our  country  to  invite  the 
British  Government  to  extend  the  "avowed  disapproba- 
tion" of  the  project  against  the  Spanish  colonies  to  the  en- 
terprise of  France  against  Spain  herself,  and  even  to  join 
in  some  declaratory  act  in  behalf  of  the  Greeks? 

Commenting  on  this  and  other  statements  of  the 
Elder  Statesmen,  Colonel  Harvey  writes  in  the  "North 
American  Review"  (February,  1917):  — 

So  here  was  this  thoughtful  and  scholarly  "Father  of  the 
Constitution"  suggesting  that  we  should  make  an  alliance 
with  Great  Britain  for  the  purpose  not  alone  of  protecting 
the  South  American  Republics  from  re-subjugation,  but 
also  of  intervention  —  Anglo-American  intervention  —  be- 
tween France  and  Spain,  and  between  Turkey  and  Greece. 
For  while  he  spoke  primarily  of  mere  words  of  "disappro- 
bation" of  France's  aggressions  upon  Spain,  and  of  a  mere 
"declaratory  act"  in  favor  of  Greece,  he  recognized  the 
fact  that  such  declarations  might  imply  a  pledge  to  follow 
them  up  with  war;  in  which  case,  he  said,  "  we  ought  to  com- 
pare the  good  to  be  done  with  the  little  injury  to  be  appre- 
hended to  the  United  States,  shielded  as  their  interests 
would  be  by  the  power  and  the  fleets  of  Great  Britain 
united  with  their  own."  In  short,  we  were  to  join  Great 
Britain  in  an  alliance  for  waging  war  against  France  for 
the  protection  of  Spain  and  against  Turkey  for  the  libera- 
tion of  Greece!  Surely,  there  was  no  "policy  of  isolation" 
in  Madison's  mind. 

469 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Let  us  consider  the  magnificent  gesture  with  which 
the  baby  giant  of  the  West  said  to  the  powerful  na- 
tions of  Europe  that  all  the  Americas  must  hereafter 
be  free  from  aggression  on  their  part.  The  greatest 
and  most  beneficent  act  of  statesmanship  in  a  hundred 
years  was  the  assertion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which 
neutralized  the  Western  Hemisphere.  Our  country  did 
this  in  its  babyhood.  In  that  far-away  time  we  said  to 
Russia  that  she  must  not  colonize  below  the  latitude  of 
fifty-four  degrees,  and  later  we  purchased  Alaska.  We 
recognized  what  all  can  see  now,  that  the  Pacific  will 
in  time  be  Europeanized. 

Our  Elder  Statesmen  concerned  themselves  with 
the  preservation  of  human  right. 

Until  August,  1914,  the  United  States  enjoyed  the 
reputation  made  by  the  great  Statesmen.  The  names 
of  Washington  and  Lincoln  meant  something  in  the 
world.  "  What  will  America  think?  "  meant  something. 

We  cannot  too  often  fix  our  minds  on  the  incredible 
crimes  Germany  has  perpetrated  and  is  perpetrating 
in  Belgium. 

Professor  Karl  Ballod,  in  Schmoller's  "Jahrbuch 
fur  Gesetzgeburg,  Verwaltung  und  Volkswirtschaf t " 
(1916),  says :  "The  requisitions  made  in  Belgium  have 
more  than  compensated  the  losses  incurred  by  Germany 
as  a  result  of  the  Russian  invasion  of  East  Prussia." 
Going  into  details,  he  states  that  three  million  soldiers 
have  received,  from  Belgium  and  Northern  France, 
at  least  4000  gr.  of  meat,  50  gr.  of  butter  or  fat,  60  gr. 
of  bread,  600  gr.  of  potatoes  per  day  and  per  head. 
The  total  equals  44  per  cent  of  the  total  consumption 
of  Germany  in  meat,  6  per  cent  of  her  total  consump- 
tion in  bread  and  potatoes. 

470 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

Let  us  take  just  one  little  village,  Middleburg,  with 
850  inhabitants.  Here  are  the  requisitions  for  six 
weeks :  — 

It  had  to  give  up  to  the  invader,  within  six  weeks,  100 
pigs,  100,000  kg.  of  wheat  and  rye,  50,000  kg.  of  beans, 
50,000  kg.  of  oats,  150,000  kg.  of  straw.  When  this  requisi- 
tion was  made,  the  inhabitants  had  already  delivered  to  the 
German  troops  50  cows,  35  pigs,  100  hens,  1600  kg.  of  oats, 
and  1600  kg.  of  straw. 

In  an  article  by  Ferdinand  Hoff,  member  of  the 
Reichstag,  occurs  this  statement :  — 

The  needs  and  the  interests  of  our  unparalleled  army  and 
of  the  German  Fatherland  must,  of  course,  be  cared  for  first 
of  all,  and  we  ought  to  see  that  the  important  economic  and 
other  forces  as  well  as  the  plants  of  the  country  [Belgium] 
shall  be  utilized  for  the  benefit  of  either. 

Meantime  hundreds  of  thousands  of  little  children 
are  underfed  and  are  rapidly  reaching  a  condition  which 
will  irretrievably  destroy  their  health  for  life.  Mil- 
lions in  Belgium  suffer  for  lack  of  sufficient  food. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  now  in  1917  these  things 
are  happening. 

Deportation  scene  in  Warsaw,  reported  in  London 
Times,  January  31, 1917 

More  crushing  and  agonizing  than  this  increasing 
famine,  however,  is  the  moral  oppression,  the  menace  of 
which  is  over  the  country.  The  "Courts  of  Blood"  perform 
their  work  without  cessation.  Firing  parties  are  always  at 
work.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Pilawa  absolutely  innocent 
people  have  been  shot.  Search  is  made  continually  in  pri- 
vate houses  to  discover  a  trace  of  connection  with  "the  ene- 
mies "  —  meaning  the  Allies.  Lamentable  and  heartrending 
scenes,  which  leave  behind  them  in  the  innermost  being  a 
hatred  which  nothing  can  uproot,  are  to  be  seen  everywhere. 

471 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Before  my  departure  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes  how  the 
Germans  proceed  in  the  sweeping  away  of  men.  At  night 
cordons  of  troops  surrounded  a  working-class  quarter  at 
Warsaw  not  far  from  the  Nadwislanska  Station  with  loaded 
rifles.  "Alles  heraus!"  (all  out)  ordered  a  sergeant.  Then 
occurred  a  tragic  scene.  The  soldiers  chose  here  and  there 
those  men  and  women  whom  they  thought  suitable,  sep- 
arated brothers  and  sisters,  mothers  and  children,  and  com- 
pelled those  whom  they  declared  good  for  slavery  to  leave 
immediately.  Thus  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  men 
and  women  were  removed  from  the  part  of  the  country 
under  the  Government  of  Warsaw.  Young  women  and 
girls  alike  are  torn  from  their  family  and  collected  in  groups, 
pell-mell  with  women  of  evil  life,  with  the  lowest  of  their 
sex.  The  most  beautiful  women  are  reserved  for  the  offi- 
cers. Deportation  trains  leave  the  country  every  day  for 
Germany.  There,  as  in  Poland,  the  hardest  labor  is  im- 
posed on  the  deported  with  in  addition  a  severe  regime  of 
terrorism  and  of  punishments.  My  unhappy  fellow  coun- 
trymen are  compelled  to  lie  on  the  ground  without  cover- 
ing, exposed  to  all  the  hardships  of  the  cold  weather. 

In  Poland  there  is  a  regime  of  misery  which  no  civilized 
people  would  dare  to  impose  upon  its  worst  criminals. 
Tuberculosis  is  consequently  beginning  to  make  frightful 
ravages  among  the  emaciated  population.  But  in  spite  of 
everything,  the  energy  of  the  unhappy  people  is  not  giving 
way.  Little  account  is  made  of  fines,  espionage,  prison. 
They  mock  the  enemy,  whom  they  detest.  They  write  Pol- 
ish songs  which  they  sing  to  German  tunes.  To  the  air  of 
" Deutschland,  Deutschland  fiber  Alles,"  they  sing:  "Nie- 
miec,  Niemiec,  co  za  scierwa,"  which  means,  "Germany, 
Germany,  ferocious  beast."  And  the  Germans  hear  the  air 
without  understanding  the  words,  and  approve,  flattered. 

The  new  Turkish  victims 

Information  received  in  authoritative  quarters  in  London 
shows  that  the  Turks  are  carrying  out  a  deliberate  policy 
of  destruction  of  Arabs,  with  the  object  apparently  of  ex- 

472 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

terminating  them  as  they  have  endeavored  to  exterminate 
the  Armenians. 

In  pursuance  of  this  object,  they  surrounded  the  whole 
region  of  the  Lebanon  with  a  military  cordon,  thus  pre- 
venting food  getting  through,  with  the  result  that  about 
half  the  Christian  and  Druse  Arabs  in  that  zone  have  died 
of  starvation.  They  have  devastated  Syria  and  Palestine 
on  the  pretext  of  getting  fuel,  and  have  ruined  olive  trees 
and  orange  gardens.  They  have  deported  large  numbers  of 
the  most  illustrious  Arab  families,  and  have  hanged  on  the 
flimsiest  pretext  all  Arab  leaders  on  whom  they  could  lay 
their  hands,  no  matter  whether  they  were  pro-  or  anti-Turk. 
The  agricultural  population  has  been  pressed  more  heavily 
with  conscription  than  any  other  section  of  the  Turkish 
people,  and  has  been  exposed  on  all  the  worst  fronts.  Such 
individuals  as  have  been  left  behind  have  been  infected  with 
typhus  by  the  deliberate  sending  into  the  villages  of  typhus- 
stricken  Armenians  to  act  as  carriers  of  the  disease.  For- 
tunately, however,  Arab  vitality  is  very  strong. 

Let  us  realize  that  the  colossal  thefts  of  Germany 
in  Belgium  consist  in  robbing  the  farmer  of  his  cows 
and  pigs  and  horses,  the  manufacturer  of  his  ma- 
chinery, raw  material,  and  manufactured  goods,  the 
merchant  of  his  stock-in-trade.  It  is  individual  rob- 
bery of  the  inhabitants  of  a  nation  against  which 
Germany  had  no  claims.  The  murder  and  torture 
and  enslavement  of  the  people  of  Belgium  was  killing 
innocent  men,  women,  and  children,  capturing  and 
dragging  into  slavery  men  and  women  and  boys  and 
girls.  It  constitutes  at  once  the  greatest  crime  and 
greatest  menace  against  ordinary  human  right.  What 
would  Washington,  Jefferson,  Monroe,  Lincoln  have 
done,  judging  by  history? 

To-day  America  is  concerned  with  the  destruction 
of  law,  the  degradation  of  decency,  and  the  infinite 

473 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

torture  and  suffering  of  the  people  of  Belgium,  Poland, 
France,  and  Armenia. 

The  imploring  eyes  and  beseeching  hands  of  the 
oppressed  are  turned  toward  America,  and  during  the 
early  months  of  the  martyrdom  of  Belgium  and  Ar- 
menia, they  turned  their  agonized  faces  to  the  great 
Republic  of  the  West,  the  Republic  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln. 

We  must  thank  God  for  the  American,  Hoover,  and 
his  associates,  who  saved  Belgium  from  immediate 
starvation.  The  most  touching  thing  I  saw  in  all 
Europe  was  one  of  many  expressions  of  gratitude  of  the 
Belgians  to  America.  In  the  shop-windows  of  many 
towns  I  saw  cushion  covers  fashioned  from  the  little 
sacks  that  contained  the  flour  sent  from  America.  On 
these  sacks  were  the  names  of  mills  in  Iowa,  Kansas, 
Minnesota,  and  many  other  States.  But  while  the 
flour  came  from  America,  it  was  mostly  paid  for  by 
other  nations.  The  American  people's  total  contribu- 
tion equals  nine  cents  each. 

I  quote  herewith  a  statement  made  by  Lord  Robert 
Cecil :  — 

Mr.  Hoover  and  his  American  colleagues  for  more  than 
two  years  have  sacrificed  every  personal  interest  to  this 
great  humanitarian  enterprise. 

It  is  they  who  have  dealt  daily,  hourly,  with  the  Foreign 
Office  here,  with  the  German  authorities  in  Brussels,  and 
with  the  German  Headquarters  in  Northern  France.  They 
have  been  constant  intermediaries  in  a  series  of  most  ardu- 
ous international  negotiations,  and  it  is  they  who  have 
built  up  the  elaborate  system  of  guarantees  which  made 
the  continuance  of  the  work  possible  for  twenty-eight 
months,  and  which  stands  to-day  as  a  bulwark  between  the 
Belgian  people  and  the  invaders. 

474 


THE  LESSON  TO  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 

Now,  I  am  not  going  to  pay  any  tribute  to  their  business 
organization  or  their  efficiency,  as  wonderful  as  these  things 
have  been.  The  mere  fact  that  for  twenty-eight  months 
they  have  kept  alive  ten  million  people  without  a  single 
serious  hitch  in  the  machinery  of  purchase,  transport,  and 
distribution  shows  what  their  organization  has  been.  But 
this  any  observer  can  judge  as  well  as  I. 

I  do  not  emphasize  the  slaughter  of  Americans  in 
the  Lusitania  crime. 

Let  us  read  what  Jefferson  said:  "In  a  government 
bottomed  on  the  will  of  all,  the  life  and  liberty  of  every 
individual  citizen  become  interesting  to  all."  And  we 
can  imagine  what  Jefferson  would  have  done. 

How  far  off  seem  Washington's  words  when  he  said  : 

The  laws  of  nations  make  part  of  the  laws  of  this  and  of 
every  other  civilized  nation.  They  consist  of  those  rules  for 
regulating  the  conduct  of  nations  toward  each  other,  which, 
resulting  from  right  reason,  receive  their  obligations  from 
that  principle  and  from  general  assent  and  practice. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

HEROIC   VOICES 

A  young  Irish  girl,  speaking  of  her  brother  who  had 
been  wounded  twice,  and  had  received  no  furlough, 
said:  "I  am  always  afraid  that  word  may  come  he  is 
killed,  and  I  don't  know  how  I  could  tell  my  mother." 
She  spoke  of  others  of  her  young  companions  who  were 
at  the  front.  Then,  referring  to  a  conversation  in  which 
they  were  speaking  of  the  end  of  the  war,  she  said, 
"A  friend  of  mine  said,  'Yes,  you  will  see  the  end  of  the 
war,  but  I  won't.'  So  many  feel  that  way." 

Will  Irwin  said,  "I  was  photographing  a  regiment 
as  it  marched  to  Verdun,  and  a  French  youth  called 
out,  'You  are  photographing  the  dead.'" 

Then  the  Irish  girl  spoke  of  one  and  another  of  her 
friends  who  had  gone,  feeling  that  they  would  never 
see  England  again,  and  there  came  a  look  into  her  eyes 
that  was  beyond  tears,  and  reminded  me  of  something 
I  had  seen  in  the  railway  station  at  Manchester.  When 
a  train  full  of  soldiers  was  just  pulling  out,  "Such  a 
train  goes  every  day  toward  the  South,"  a  man  re- 
marked to  me.  But  as  the  train  left,  I  looked  at  the 
host  of  women  and  girls  who  had  come  to  bid  farewell. 
I  saw  almost  no  tears,  but  there  was  a  look  of  tender, 
yearning  admiration,  almost  reverence,  and  above  all 
of  eager  longing  and  mothering.  But  no  tears,  and  when 
I  saw  the  look  in  the  eyes  of  the  young  Irish  girl,  there 
came  to  my  mind  the  words,  "And  He  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes";  only  not  as  I  had  un- 
derstood the  words.   Here  is  a  people  beyond  tears. 

476 


HEROIC  VOICES 

One  afternoon  I  noticed  a  great  throng  of  people  in 
front  of  Charing  Cross  Station.  In  a  moment  an  am- 
bulance passed;  inside  a  soldier  waved  his  hand  to  the 
cheering  of  the  people.  He  was  cared  for  by  a  nurse. 

Every  few  seconds  an  ambulance  would  come  out 
of  the  station  with  its  one  or  two  soldiers,  and  the  great 
concourse  of  people  would  welcome  them  and  throw 
flowers  to  them.  Those  soldiers  had  been  through  the 
hell  at  the  front,  and  all  over  the  Kingdom  the  trains 
brought  back  to  their  people  the  maimed  and  the 
broken,  day  by  day,  in  return  for  the  magnificent  youth 
who  had  marched  away  with  such  bravery  and  power. 

This  war  has  no  illusions.  The  youth  who  go  forth 
to  such  conditions  as  were  never  imagined  before, 
know  what  they  will  find  and  endure. 

Many  letters  are  written  to  be  sent  home  only  if  the 
writer  is  killed.  I  print  two  such  letters:  — 

"But  we  shall  live  forever" 

A  soldier  boy's  last  letter 

(Lieutenant  Eric  L.  Townsend,  twenty  years  old) 

Sept.  8,  1916. 
Dearest  Mother  and  Father:  — 

You  are  reading  this  letter  because  I  have  gone  under. 

Of  course  I  know  you  will  be  terribly  cut  up,  and  that 
it  will  be  a  long  time  before  you  get  over  it,  but  get  over  it 
you  must.  You  must  be  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  navy 
and  the  army  to  "carry  on."  You  will  still  have  dear  little 
Donald,  who  is  safe,  at  any  rate  for  some  while.  If  he 
should  ever  have  to  go  on  active  service  I  somehow  feel  that 
his  invariable  good  luck  will  bring  him  through. 

You  must  console  yourselves  with  the  thought  that  I  am 
happy,  whereas  if  I  had  lived  —  who  knows? 

Remember  the  saying  attributed  to  Solon,  "Call  no 
man  happy  till  he  is  dead."  Thanks  to  your  self-sacrificing 

477 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

love  and  devotion  I  have  had  a  happy  time  all  my  life. 
Death  will  have  delivered  me  from  experiencing  unhappi- 
ness. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  very  pitiful  thing  what 
little  difference  the  disappearance  of  a  man  makes  to  any 
institution,  even  though  he  may  have  played  a  very  impor- 
tant role.  A  moment's  regret,  a  moment's  pause  for  read- 
justment, and  another  man  steps  forward  to  carry  on,  and 
the  machine  clanks  onward  with  scarce  a  check.  The  death 
of  the  leader  of  the  nation  is  less  even  than  a  seven  days' 
wonder.  To  a  very  small  number  is  given  to  live  in  history; 
their  number  is  scarcely  one  in  ten  millions.  To  the  rest  it 
is  only  granted  to  live  in  their  united  achievements. 

But  for  this  war  I  and  all  the  others  would  have  passed 
into  oblivion  like  the  countless  myriads  before  us.  We 
should  have  gone  about  our  trifling  business,  eating,  drink- 
ing, sleeping,  hoping,  marrying,  giving  in  marriage,  and 
finally  dying  with  no  more  achieved  than  when  we  were 
born,  with  the  world  no  different  for  our  lives.  Even  the 
cattle  in  the  field  fare  no  worse  than  this.  They,  too,  eat, 
drink,  sleep,  bring  forth  young,  and  die,  leaving  the  world 
no  different  from  what  they  found  it. 

But  we  shall  live  forever  in  the  results  of  our  efforts. 

We  shall  live  as  those  who  by  their  sacrifice  won  the  great 
war.  Our  spirits  and  our  memories  shall  endure  in  the  proud 
position  Britain  shall  hold  in  the  future.  The  measure  of 
life  is  not  its  span,  but  the  use  made  of  it.  I  did  not  make 
much  use  of  my  life  before  the  war,  but  I  think  I  have  done 
so  now. 

One  sometimes  hears  people  say,  when  a  young  man  is 
killed,  "Poor  fellow,  cut  off  so  early,  without  ever  having 
had  a  chance  of  knowing  and  enjoying  life!"  But  for  my- 
self, thanks  to  all  that  both  of  you  have  done,  I  have 
crowded  into  twenty  years  enough  pleasures,  sensations, 
and  experiences  for  an  ordinary  lifetime.  Never  brilliant, 
sometimes  almost  a  failure  in  anything  I  undertook,  my 
sympathies  and  my  interests  somehow  or  other  —  why, 
I  cannot  tell  —  were  so  wide  that  there  was  scarcely  an 
amusement,  an  occupation,  a  feeling  which  I  could  not 

478 


HEROIC  VOICES 

appreciate.    And,  as  I  have  said,  of  most  of  these  I  had 
tasted. 

I  don't  suppose  I  ever  met  anybody  who  was  not  my 
superior  in  knowledge  or  achievement  in  one  particular 
subject;  but  there  his  knowledge  and  his  interest  ended; 
whereas  my  interests  comprised  nearly  the  whole  field  of 
human  affairs  and  activities.  And  that  is  why  it  is  no  hard- 
ship for  me  to  leave  the  world  so  young. 

Well,  I  have  talked  a  lot  of  rot  which  must  have  given 
you  great  pain  to  read  and  which  will  not  bring  you  much 
comfort.  I  had  intended  to  try  and  say  words  of  comfort, 
but  that  scarcely  being  possible,  it  has  drifted  into  a  sort 
of  confession  of  faith. 

To  me  has  been  given  the  easier  task;  to  you  is  given  the 
more  difficult  —  that  of  living  in  sorrow.  Be  of  good  cour- 
age that  at  the  end  you  may  give  a  good  account. 

Kiss  Donald  for  me.     Adieu,  best  of  parents. 

Your  loving  son, 

Eric. 

A  letter  written  by  a  schoolmaster  from  Sousse,  Algeria,  on 
the  evening  of  the  assault  in  which  he  fell 

My  dear  little  Mamma:  — 

I  hope  that  you  will  never  receive  this  letter,  for  if  it 
comes  some  day  it  will  be  because  I  shall  have  gone  to  re- 
join grandfather,  papa,  and  my  dear  little  brother. 

This  idea  of  death  does  not  terrify  me  the  least  in  the 
world;  if  I  fall  it  will  be  for  France  while  doing  my  duty, 
as  so  many  men  are  doing  at  this  moment.  You  are  the 
only  one  for  whom  I  am  anxious;  and  I  ask,  "What  will 
become  of  my  poor  mamma?" 

If  it  should  happen  that  I  die,  this  is  what  you  must  do : 
To  begin  with  you  must  have  and  keep  perfect  calm.  Keep 
all  your  self-possession  and  do  not  go  through  the  streets 
crying  in  your  despair.  Your  suffering  will  be  calm  and 
dignified. 

Next,  you  will  go  to  Coulonges,  or  rather  to  Luche-Tou- 
arsais,  to  the  tomb  of  papa;  you  will  tell  him  that  both  his 

479 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

sons  died  doing  their  duty,  and  that  his  son-in-law  did  the 
same.  Father  will  be  content  to  know  that  his  big  Rudolph 
and  his  little  Emile  fell  on  the  field  of  honor.  You  will  tell 
him  also  that  Rudolph  fell  wearing  his  epaulettes  facing 
the  enemy  and  at  the  head  of  his  men.  He  will  be  happy, 
our  dear  father,  and  you,  dear  mamma,  will  have  the  satis- 
faction of  having  given  birth  to  men  of  worth. 

You  will  go  back  to  your  work  at  the  station  of  Chef-Bou- 
tonne,  and  you  will  stay  there  until  the  time  when  you  shall 
think  yourself  weary  enough  and  to  have  worked  enough  to 
rest  yourself.  Then  you  will  return  to  Alsace  to  be  a  French- 
woman again,  and  when  you  are  at  Thann  or  at  Strass- 
bourg  you  will  tell  yourself  that  it  is  because  your  sons  have 
contributed  to  give  back  our  dear  provinces  to  France. 

Let  this  thought  be  sweet  to  your  heart !  It  will  be  a  con- 
solation in  your  old  age,  which  will  be  very  long. 

I  wish  and  desire  for  you  always  good  courage  and  con- 
fidence. The  sacrifice  once  accepted,  joy  in  resignation 
makes  us  strong. 

You  will  thrust  far  from  you  all  anger  against  any,  who- 
soever it  may  be.  You  will  not  be  jealous  of  mothers  who 
shall  have  kept  their  children  alive.  If  you  sometimes  sigh 
when  you  see  my  brother's  comrades  or  mine,  remember 
that  your  sons  suffer  no  more  and  that  their  glorious  death 
is  well  worth  the  paltry  existence  of  those  who  remain. 

You  promise  me  faithfully,  do  you  not?  If  I  should  not 
come  back  again  you  will  tell  yourself  that  the  last  thoughts 
of  your  big  son  were  for  you  and  for  Blanche  and  that  from 
the  Paradise  of  the  brave  I  will  watch  over  you  both. 

Some  kind  kisses,  then,  courage  and  strength  of  heart 
in  life  and  in  death!  Your  big  son  who  loves  you  well. 

Rudolph. 

Farm  of  Berthonval 
(Pas-de-Calais) 

The  following  letter  is  printed  in  a  volume  entitled 
"The  German  Spirit,"  by  Kuno  Francke.  I  often  no- 
ticed in  the  eyes  of  the  young  soldiers  going  to  the 
front,  just  such  a  look  as  is  described  in  this  letter. 

480 


HEROIC  VOICES 

It  is  from  a  widow  living  near  Lake  Constance, 
whose  eldest  son,  a  young  Uhlan  who  volunteered  fresh 
from  the  Gymnasium,  had  come  home  on  furlough  for 
the  Christmas  holidays :  — 

On  the  twenty-fourth  I  rode  to  Constance  to  fetch  our 
Christmas  surprise,  our  dear  tall  Uhlan  who  was  allowed 
to  spend  three  whole  days  with  us.  It  was  a  wonderful  time 
for  us.  The  children  dragged  him  about  everywhere,  from 
the  cellar  to  the  attic,  from  the  garden  into  the  field.  It 
was  a  joy  to  see  him  playing  for  them  gay  riders'  songs  on 
the  piano,  whistling  tunes  to  the  guitar,  etc.  But  he  has 
grown  very  serious.  A  veil  lies  over  his  youthful  face;  and 
there  is  something  touchingly  protecting  in  the  way  in 
which  he  behaves  toward  the  children.  His  features  in  re- 
pose are  strangely  sad;  and  strangely  mature  he  seems 
when  he  talked,  so  reservedly  and  yet  so  understandingly, 
with  a  neighbor  who  had  just  heard  of  the  death  of  his  only 
son.  There  were  three  steamers  full  of  reservists  when,  on 
the  third  day,  I  accompanied  him  across  the  lake.  Some 
fifty  people  were  at  the  pier  and  waved  good-bye.  A  young 
lad  next  to  us  on  the  steamer,  who  had  kept  up  waving 
back  a  long  time,  broke  into  despairing  sobs  when  his  aged 
mother  vanished  out  of  sight.  But  they  all  spoke  firmly  and 
with  wonderful  elevation  about  our  beloved  Fatherland. 
It  helped  me  to  keep  myself  in  hand.  And  now  —  as  God 
wills. 

Here  is  a  little  letter  which  gives  a  glimpse  of  what 
the  universal  sentence  to  death  means :  — 

April  U,  1916. 
To-day  is  my  nineteenth  birthday.  How  shall  I  celebrate 
it?  By  rain  and  artillery  fire,  crouching  in  an  underground 
hole  like  a  mole.  To  be  only  nineteen  and  to  have  been 
seventeen  months  in  the  war!  Where  shall  I  celebrate  my 
twentieth  anniversary? 

Meanwhile  he  was  taken  prisoner  April  15. 

481 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

From  many  sources  I  have  collected  these  little 
stories  of  reality :  — 

The  most  trying  days  at  Rheims  were  those  when  the 
troops  of  the  invaders  occupied  the  city.  A  few  grief- 
stricken  neighbors  were  gathered  for  prayer  in  the  small 
quarters.  Suddenly  some  one  was  heard  knocking  at  the 
window.  The  adjutant  opened  it,  and  saw  a  German  sol- 
dier. 

At  sight  of  the  praying  group  the  man  drew  back,  utter- 
ing excuses.  But  the  adjutant,  who  did  not  know  a  word 
of  German,  beckoned  him  to  stay,  and  then,  from  his  coat 
pocket  he  drew  forth  a  photograph  of  his  wife  and  children, 
and  began  to  sob  as  he  tried  to  make  the  officers  under- 
stand that  he  too  was  a  converted  man ! 

Captain  Robinson  was  in  charge  of  a  British  vessel 
which,  ignoring  a  signal  to  take  to  the  boats,  was  shelled 
and  chased  by  a  German  submarine.  At  last  the  steering- 
gear  was  destroyed  and  the  ship  was  compelled  to  stop. 
The  captain  gave  Betty,  a  Pomeranian  ten  months  old,  to 
the  second  officer  to  put  into  the  boat,  but  in  passing  the 
dog  down  one  of  the  crew  dropped  it  into  the  water. 

When  Captain  Robinson  entered  the  boat  Betty  could 
be  seen  swimming  toward  the  submarine.  Without  hesi- 
tation the  captain  jumped  into  the  water,  swam  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  and  put  the  dog  on  his  shoulder.  As  the 
submarine  had  by  this  time  drawn  up  to  him,  he  laid  hold 
of  her  in  order  to  recover  his  breath.  The  commander  then 
said,  in  imperfect  English,  "I  make  up  my  mind  to  blow  up 
your  boats  for  your  not  stopping  ship,  but  for  you  saving 
little  dog." 

A  young  officer  was  reported  wounded  and  missing.  After 
some  weeks  his  parents  received  a  letter  through  Denmark 
to  this  effect.  It  was  written  in  German,  from  a  sergeant  in 
the  German  Army,  "somewhere  in  France":  — 

Dear  Sir:  —  I  have  promised  your  son  to  write  this 
to  you.    By  the  good  guidance  of  God  I  found  your 

482 


HEROIC  VOICES 

son  in  a  shell-hole  wounded.  He  had  lain  there  two 
days.  As  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bids  us  love  our  enemies, 
I  ministered  to  him,  bound  up  his  wounds,  and  gave 
him  bread  and  wine.  In  a  short  time  he  revived,  and  I, 
with  some  of  my  men,  carried  him  to  a  place  of  safety. 
He  is  now  in  hospital  being  well  cared  for. 

A  Salvationist  sailor's  self-sacrifice  is  related  in  "Deeds 
of  Love  and  Courage "  —  the  social  report  just  published 
by  the  Salvation  Army. 

It  was  told  by  a  sailor  who  entered  the  Salvation  Army 
Hall  at  Sheerness. 

I  was  on  the (one  of  the  cruisers  torpedoed  in 

the  North  Sea)  when  she  sank.  I,  and  another  mem- 
ber of  the  crew,  a  Salvationist,  had  been  swimming 
about  in  the  water  for  two  hours  or  more  and  were 
almost  exhausted,  when  just  as  we  were  about  to  give 
up  we  saw  a  piece  of  spar,  we  made  for  it,  and  took 
hold.  But,  alas!  it  was  not  big  enough  to  keep  us 
both  afloat.  We  looked  at  each  other.  For  a  time, 
one  took  hold  while  the  other  swam,  and  then  we 
changed  over. 

We  kept  this  up  for  a  bit,  but  it  was  evident  we 
were  getting  weaker.  Neither  of  us  spoke  for  a  while, 
and  then  presently  the  Salvationist  said:  "Mate, 
death  means  life  to  me:  you  are  not  converted,  you 
hold  on  to  the  spar  and  save  yourself;  I'll  let  go. 
Good-bye!" 

And  he  let  go  and  went  down! 

Grand-Pere x 

And  so  when  he  reached  my  bed 
The  General  made  a  stand: 
"My  brave  young  fellow,"  he  said, 
"I  would  shake  your  hand." 

So  I  lifted  my  arm,  the  right, 
With  never  a  hand  at  all; 

1  From  Rhymes  of  a  Red-Cross  Man,  by  Robert  W.  Service. 

483 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

Only  a  stump,  a  sight 
Fit  to  appal. 

"Well,  well.  Now  that's  too  bad! 
That's  sorrowful  luck,"  he  said; 
"But  there!  You  give  me,  my  lad, 
The  left  instead." 

So  from  under  the  blanket's  rim 
I  raised  and  showed  him  the  other, 
A  snag  as  ugly  and  grim 
As  its  ugly  brother. 

He  looked  at  each  jagged  wrist; 
He  looked  but  he  did  not  speak; 
And  then  he  bent  down  and  kissed 
Me  on  either  cheek. 

You  wonder  now  I  don't  mind 
I  had  n't  a  hand  to  offer  .  .  . 
They  tell  me  (you  know  I  'm  blind) 
'T  was  Grand-pere  Joffre. 

The  Women  of  France 

The  Countess  of  Sancy  announces  the  death  of  her 
son  to  her  friends  in  the  following  words :  — 

It  is  with  a  proud  and  broken  heart  that  I  announce 
the  death  on  the  field  of  honor  of  my  well-beloved  Alain: 
with  me  you  will  weep  for  this  incomparable  son.  Let  us 
pray  and  cry:  "Vive  la  France!" 

An  Alsatian,  the  widow  Adam,  lost  her  eldest  son, 
and  later  her  second  son,  slain  at  Dornach;  weeping  she 
writes  thus  to  her  daughter :  — 

His  death  is  an  honor  to  him  and  to  us.  I  pray  God  for 
the  success  of  our  arms.  Vive  la  France!  la  Belgique, 
V Angle terre  et  la  Russie! 

A  good  woman  who  keeps  a  grocery  in  Noisy-le-sec, 
Mme.  Galliwa,  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  has  had 

484 


HEROIC  VOICES 

six  sons  slain  by  the  enemy  in  the  space  of  a  few  days, 
and  she  replies  thus  to  a  relative  who  had  endeavored 
to  comfort  her:  "I  had  rather  they  were  all  dead  than 
to  allow  the  Germans  to  enter  France! " 

All  know  the  story  of  Edith  Cavell,  but  it  can  never 
be  told  too  often.  She  was  in  Brussels  at  the  time  of  the 
invasion.  Speaking  of  the  German  soldiers  she  wrote 
on  August  24 :  — 

We  were  divided  between  pity  for  these  poor  fellows,  far 
from  their  country  and  their  people,  suffering  the  weari- 
ness and  fatigue  of  an  arduous  campaign,  and  hate  of  a 
cruel  and  vindictive  foe  bringing  ruin  and  desolation  on 
hundreds  of  happy  homes  and  to  a  prosperous  and  peaceful 
land. 

After  her  arrest  the  Military  Prosecutor  asked  her 
why  she  had  helped  these  soldiers  to  go  to  England. 
"If  I  had  not  done  so  they  would  have  been  shot,"  she 
answered.  "I  thought  I  was  only  doing  my  duty  in 
saving  their  lives.  ..." 

Brand  Whitlock,  the  American  Minister  at  Brussels, 
wrote  this  appeal  after  she  was  condemned :  — 

My  dear  Baron,  —  I  am  too  ill  to  present  my  request  to 
you  in  person,  but  I  appeal  to  your  generosity  of  heart  to 
support  it  and  save  this  unfortunate  woman  from  death. 
Have  pity  on  her! 

When  she  came  to  die  she  said :  — 

I  have  no  fear  nor  shrinking.  I  have  seen  death  so  often 
that  it  is  not  strange  or  fearful  to  me. 

I  thank  God  for  this  ten  weeks'  quiet  before  the  end.  Life 
has  always  been  hurried  and  full  of  difficulty.  This  time  of 
rest  has  been  a  great  mercy. 

They  have  all  been  very  kind  to  me.  But  this  I  would  say, 
standing  as  I  do  in  view  of  God  and  eternity,  I  realize  that 

485 


OBSTACLES  TO  PEACE 

patriotism  is  not  enough.   I  must  have  no  hatred  or  bitter- 
ness to  any  one. 

She  then  repeated  the  hymn  beginning :  — 

Hold  thou  Thy  cross  before  my  closing  eyes; 
Shine  through  the  gloom  and  point  me  to  the  skies; 
Heaven's  morning  breaks,  and  earth's  vain  shadows  flee; 
In  life,  in  death,  O  Lord,  abide  with  me. 

Mr.  Beck  writes  of  her  last  moments :  — 

The  German  military  chaplain  was  with  her  at  the  end 
and  afterwards  gave  her  Christian  burial.  He  told  me: 
"She  was  brave  and  bright  to  the  last.  She  professed  her 
Christian  faith  and  that  she  was  glad  to  die  for  her  country. 
She  died  like  a  heroine." 

The  dark  secrecy  of  the  execution  gave  rise  to  many  false 
statements  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  her  end.  As  these 
exaggerated  the  horror  of  the  deed  and  intensified  the  feel- 
ing of  indignation  against  her  executioners,  they  should  be 
corrected.  Some  of  these  reputed  details  are  too  horrible  for 
statement. 

The  facts  as  narrated  by  the  German  prison  chaplain, 
who  seems  to  have  been  a  very  noble  and  humane  man,  are 
very  simple. 

Miss  Cavell  walked  bravely  to  the  place  of  her  execution 
and  simply  inquired  where  she  should  stand.  This  was  indi- 
cated and  she  was  asked  whether  she  preferred  to  be  blind- 
folded, to  which  she  replied,  "No."  She  folded  her  arms 
and  then  simply  said  to  the  firing  squad,  "I  am  ready,"  and 
was  then  instantly  killed. 

What  words  could  describe  the  feelings  of  that  firing 
squad  when  they  saw  the  body  of  this  brave  and  noble 
woman  lying  lifeless  at  their  feet? 

Thus  died  Edith  Cavell,  assuredly  one  of  the  noblest 
women  in  the  history  of  the  world.  To  her  memory  a  statue 
is  to  be  erected  in  Trafalgar  Square,  but  no  art  could  fashion 
a  statue  worthy  of  the  nobility  of  her  soul. 

One  can  say  of  her,  as  was  said  of  William  the  Silent, 

486 


HEROIC  VOICES 

who  was  also  assassinated,  that  when  she  died  "the  little 
children  cried  in  the  streets." 

I  close  with  these  words  of  Maeterlinck's  on  Edith 
Cavell :  — 

She  passed  like  a  flash  of  light  which  for  one  moment  il- 
lumined that  vast  and  innumerable  multitude,  confirming 
our  confidence  and  our  admiration.  She  has  added  a  final 
beauty  to  the  great  revelations  of  this  war;  for  the  war, 
which  has  taught  us  many  things  that  will  never  fade  from 
our  memory,  has  above  all  revealed  us  to  ourselves.  .  .  . 

There  was  a  moment  of  anguish  and  silence;  and  lo,  sud- 
denly, in  the  midst  of  this  anguish  and  silence,  the  most 
splendid  response,  the  most  magnificent  cry  of  resurrec- 
tion, of  righteousness,  of  heroism  and  sacrifice  that  the 
earth  has  ever  heard  since  it  began  to  roll  along  the  paths 
of  space  and  time !  They  were  still  there,  the  ideal  forces ! 
They  were  mounting  upward,  on  every  side,  from  the 
depths  of  all  those  swiftly-assembling  souls,  not  merely  in- 
tact, but  more  than  ever  radiant,  more  than  ever  pure, 
more  numerous  and  mightier  than  ever!  To  the  amaze- 
ment of  all  of  us,  who  possessed  them  without  knowing  it, 
they  had  increased  in  strength  and  stature  while  apparently 
neglected  and  forgotten. 


THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .    A 


D 


6\ 


All  S3 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


THE 

««ITE  HOUSE 
S!H  FRANCISCO 


BOOKS 


